I have a government job now where I’m doing meaningful, impactful work. I have a decent work life balance compared to the private sector, good benefits, and coworkers who are great to work with. I’m able to shape policy and make government run more efficiently. But the thing is I’m just not fulfilled. I’m not the type who gets fulfilled by my job. My fulfillment comes from the freedom to go for a walk in the middle of the day, the freedom to spend time with family and loved ones whenever I want, and just the freedom to do whatever I want. I know I have to work for the rest of my life and that there’s no way to avoid it. I just feel drained because I need to work so much. We work our lives away, and people say we have good work life balance because we get out at 5pm everyday. That is absolutely unnecessary given the progress we’ve made as a society but the 40 hour workweek seems like it’ll never change. No matter how much work I do to make government more efficient, citizens still won’t have the basic necessities like healthcare, affordable housing, affordable education, and infrastructure for public transit. So I’m left with thinking what’s the point? What’s the point of caring about my job or pretending to be excited about it if Americans still can’t get the basic necessities? If we’re stuck in this systemic failure of late stage capitalism? If you guys have any advice on how to stay optimistic through the work week, I would love some advice.