To keep it short, I live in a paid off home and have an old paid off car so my bills are quite low. Up until my mid 20s, I was what many relatives considered a “loser” for not having a typical, standard, stable career. I worked short hours, random gigs, or no gig at all. I was often broke or would have under $500 in my bank account. I paid minimum bills like utilities and cellphone, and that was it. The rest of my time was spent going around town, dating, working out, playing video games, running, hiking, exploring, reading, watching documentaries – essentially doing all the things I've always wanted to do. I don't drink or do drugs, so I don't spend money on that. No debt.
Fast forward to me now. I have a good job as a software developer. 6 hour work days. Work from home and fully remote. No office politics or HR. Very high paying for the area.
Yet I am mentally exhausted to the point of not being able to, or not wanting to, to do a lot of things I used to. I don't cook – I order food. I don't clean, I call cleaning services. Going to the gym being as mentally exhausted as I am on workdays is insanely difficult and leads to poor performance. But work + staying in shape + other life maintenance things + sleep zeroes out to close to no free time. Actually I have free time, but none of it is mental free time like it used to be.
And at the end of it all, I'm still broke. Not broke in the same way as I was before. Instead of having $500 in my account, I have more but it really changes nothing except I have an overall poorer and unhealthier lifestyle. I cant find the time, or at least the energy, to do more fulfilling things. The economy is so shitty and the price of things like a house are so unrealistic that even with my “good” job a decent house is equal to nearly a decade of my labor and I just don't see the point. A nice new BMW will run me like an entire year of my labor – WHAT'S THE POINT of that?
Really, what is the point? I worked so hard to get into this career, and now I work hard to maintain it, yet my quality of life has only diminished.
I think imma go back to being a gymrat and fuck around playing video games, staying up til 4AM and waking up when I want to, and working on my own software projects instead of someone elses.
Honestly, a month or two of this job's salary is enough to fund an entire year of my previous lifestyle, so why not?