I'm still in high school, and only really use Reddit for browsing memes, my hobbies and other stuff that I'm interested in. This subreddit popped up in my recommended feed a little while ago when I went down a rabbit hole and I initially brushed it off thinking it didn't apply to me (which in a sense is right) but then it kept showing up in my feed.
I was born into a very, very, VERY fortunate situation. As the youngest of four siblings I was always gifted and spoiled both in academic ability and extracurricular activities. I didn't realize how much better my life was until the pandemic started and I had to watch classmate's connections constantly drop over zoom calls and my own teachers sometimes not being able to attend them because they had to take care of their kids.
My parents immigrated to the US from Poland (when it was still in the Eastern Bloc) in the 1980s. They have always been against the anti-work movement and any ideas even remotely related to unionization since the magic word – socialism – scares them (I wouldn't blame them). When they first moved here, my mother worked 3 jobs, as a cleaning lady and a teacher, while my father worked odd jobs as a carpenter and painter with friends already established here until he was able to create his own company. They lived with my 3 siblings in an apartment in the Chicago suburbs until they had enough money to buy a house in the mid 90s.
Now that I've grown out of the things I used to do and starting to look towards college, I've had a lot more time to think about what I want my life to look like. I've seen the terrible shit people went through in their own jobs on this subreddit and learned about how life was like for my siblings trying to work their way up the ladder.
My oldest sister is 38 and is the first one who could afford a home with her fiancee, but even then had to borrow money from my parents just to pay off their down payment. My brother has been married for 4 years, has a toddler, and still hasn't been able to afford a new car (yet again, they rented one from my parents) which his wife needs to get to and from work, let alone afford a home. My younger sister just became an RN and lives in Boston with her boyfriend, and got a letter from the American Health Association that literally reads “…burned out from work? It might just be early menopause!”. She's 27.
I've always been told by my family that the only way I can get my life on the right track is by studying hard in school, getting into a good college, and working hard at a well paying job (these seem to be few and far between in the US from what I've seen here). I think I'm doing a good fucking job at that, I'll be able to graduate junior year, but I'm always told I need to do better. I appreciate my family for encouraging me, they've been an amazing help when it comes to school and my own interests, but doing schoolwork for 10 hours a day from 7 to 5 stresses me the fuck out, and my teachers always tell me it only gets worse in college.
Am I just overreacting too young, too soon? I don't want to be worrying about things that I don't need to. I'm not an adult by any means, so if you are, can you also give me advice on how can I avoid the challenges my siblings are facing in the future?