I'm was stuck in a position in my last two jobs where despite doing work in a skilled trade I couldn't buy a house or rent much more than a 1 bed room hovel, much less save for retirement even with enough overtime to total another three months worth of hours. I finally quit my last job and it has been a blessing because my father had a heart attack shortly after I did. I've been able to care for him
In this time I've been able to go to the doctor in the first time five years. One appointment I've found my A1c is up to 7.5 from previously being 6.3. I tried to see a doctor for a persistent neck injury as well and gave up and left after two hours had gone past my appointment time and I'd not been seen due to how much they over book appointments. I still need to see a dentist and optometrist.
All of this is out of pocket, blessedly being paid out from every hour of vacation I had ever earned at my last job because they wouldn't approve it.
I'm getting told I need to lose weight, that I need to control my sugars, that I need to eat better…And I just can't see a reason why. Food is one of the only comforts I have available to me, and working 60 hour weeks with 2 hours of drive time a day, I only had time for prepackaged crap to stuff in my throat before taking care of what chores I had to and then sleeping. I know uncontrolled diabetes is a really horrible condition, but frankly I'm never going to have enough to build anything. I don't have time to find a wife or build a family with a significant other, so I'm not seeing an advantage to taking care of myself when it seems medical disability might be the closest thing I get to any sort of retirement, and on balance having seen my father break down his body before sixty and continuing to labor in similar work, I'm not sure the physical suffering is much different. All in all it seems it would be the same thing just on an accelerated time table.