On Burnout and Thriving
I’m about 40 days into being free from a 9-5 job. A week or two ago it dawned on me that I have no experiential reality with what this entails.
For the past 8 years I’ve been working enterprise jobs that while beneficial from a career perspective, were not earth-shattering endeavors. The most surprising thing to me looking back on it is that I was constantly seeking more education, more career opportunities, and I somehow maintained the energy for this - despite the tedium of the 9-5.
Now that I am free from the daily grind I have little ambition for my personal projects, for furthering my education, for reading, for writing, or doing anything.
It could be severe burnout, but it could also be indifference.
The thing I’ve been telling myself is that I’ve got this opportunity to do something, so I might as well do it in the hopes that it helps others. There are so many people, and beings, suffering right this minute. If I opt out of the grind through some means like going to a monastery and living the rest of my life there, what will I have really achieved for the benefit of others?
At the same time, I’ve told myself that until I try something like that I won’t really know.
The only thing that motivates me now is to encourage myself to work consistently on the things that I am naturally adept at, as well as the things that I can make the biggest impact on, so that I don’t waste the opportunity. If I am fine wasting it for myself, so be it, but I cannot accept indifference to an opportunity that can help others.
One other thing that’s dawned on me throughout the past couple of months is that people often critique those with money, saying it’s greed or what not. If someone would produce 3-4 million dollars of revenue in their life which goes towards housing, food, and so forth, what’s the problem with producing that up front? If an individual can produce 1-2 million dollars in 3-5 years, and invest that prudently in a manner that nets the same 3-4 million in a lifetime, what is wrong with that?
The worker mentality is severely debilitating. If someone is triggered by the upfront value creation that I shared, then they ought to consider what even a year of freedom from the tedium can produce. Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, produced so much artistic and philosophical value simply by being given a year off work by her friends. You can read more about it here.
I’m not talking about producing a million to million dollars through some crappy affiliate marketing course, or through drop shipping junk. I’m talking about hunkering down, working anywhere from 30-60 hours a week on something you truly enjoy or find value in, and not backing down when the naysayers sprinkle their doubts. Harper Lee was informed her book wouldn’t sell more than a few thousand copies, and nowadays it sells close to a million copies every year. She didn’t accomplish her goal in a year, but rather, two and a half years is what it took her to write that book.
Even more interesting is that Harper Lee wasn’t able to replicate the success. The sad context she had from her father’s failed legal case, which inspired her story, was a one off. She tried writing again, but from what I gather, did not achieve anywhere near the original success.
In life, everyone deserves to have their Harper Lee moment. If no one else will gift you that year, I hope you will do everything you can to gift it to yourself.
No, it’s not easy once you do receive the time - but it sure is a worthy endeavor to undertake.
This is what I’m talking about when I say that those without, who have opportunities like this, are in a debilitating mindset. No, I’m not talking about the people that are living pay check to pay check with medical debt, illnesses, or other qualms. I’m talking about the people that are in tens of thousands of dollars of debt, for things they bought to impress their friends, who think that they’re thriving while they’re slowly drowning.
Prior to my unplugging from the 9-5 I was lucky enough to not be in the credit boat. Having had no car since 2019, not being big on ‘fashion,’ and having outdated technology that I bought myself, repaired, or was gifted, I cannot fathom what it’s like to work your way out of a credit nightmare - buying happiness with money you don’t have for a fleeting moment - to achieving a year or two of freedom from the 9-5.
As I wrote about this, and as I pondered Harper Lee, I figured I ought to give myself a year like that. It dawned on me, even before writing this, that my lack of enthusiasm for what comes next might be from the fact that I haven’t yet earned my ‘freedom’ for a lifetime. My freedom from the 9-5.
I figured that maybe I shouldn’t expect any other sentiments, other than the ones I have of being displeased or unimpressed, and I certainly shouldn’t accept those sentiments as mine… until I have given myself the freedom to be a human being and not a cog.
Even having the opportunity to build, or direct, some value in this world in a manner that buys back my own freedom from the 9-5 tedium is a rare one. Many people will likely just be wiped out, in the sense of being demoted a socioeconomic class or two - or until minimum wage, by the advancements in technology.
I am curious to see how it will play out. I suppose for now, it’s the only game worth playing. I’m writing this because I want to make it clear I am starting from a new foundation. I don’t have a business network, I don’t have clients, I don’t have prestigious pedigrees, and I don’t have a massive desire to make money or accumulate wealth.
However, for the benefit of those that don’t have opportunities but have done nothing wrong to be in the predicament that they are in, I want to do the hard work. The hard work that otherwise I would possibly ignore or leave behind in favor of easier ways of living out my years in peace, nature, and solitude.
I’m not sure what that looks like, and I’m sure I’m not the only one going through this. If I can inspire others in the process, that will give me more momentum to keep going when the going gets hard.
Thanks for reading this far. I look forward to what’s to come.