TL;DR: I feel like life is being wasted working for somebody else's benefit
I also posted this in r/rant but thought it might be a better fit here.
I feel like I can't talk to anyone IRL about how I feel because most will just say “that's just the way life is” or “you're just lazy” and that may be the case here too but I just need to rant a little.
I have been working retail/fast food jobs ever since I was old enough to just to have money (duh.) It was miserable then but it was different because I was fortunate enough to just want the money and not need it. However, once I became an actual adult with financial responsibility I came to a realization that this is how life is going to be until it's basically over. Working 40 hours, 5 days a week, with only 48 free hours to actually enjoy life. You could count the hours before and after work as free hours but are those really enough time to enjoy?
After working years at fast food and retail stores getting yelled at and berated every shift by entitled customers I finally had enough and just quit in hopes of finding a better job. Then COVID came and I was unemployed for almost a year. Not counting the financial stress and stress from the global pandemic, that was the most enjoyable time of my adult life. And that's pretty sad I think.
Just to put it out there, I have gone to college and studied multiple subjects, but every time I end up in the same spot thinking “why am I going to work my life away for someone else's benefit?” That may be selfish, but life is finite and I don't want my time here to be miserable and wasted. I was fortunate enough to find a decent work from home job a few months ago but I'm already feeling burnt out. It's a call center job, so obviously still being yelled at and berated but at least I don't have to see the customer. It's getting to the point now that every time I get a call I want to cry and just quit.
I do have some projects in the works to hopefully turn some hobbies into profit and work for myself, but who knows how that'll end up.
Call me entitled, selfish, whatever you want but this is how I feel and I just don't understand why life has to be like this. I get that nothing is free and we have to work for what we want, but shouldn't we be able to live at least a little bit too?