I don't know what's wrong with me, but I simply cannot fathom having to genuinely work for the rest of my life. This isn't right. And I have no clue how the generations before me has been managing this 5 day work week for decades. Growing up poor and with little financial security (single parent household), I used to think I'd sacrifice anything to secure a high-paying job. I used to think I'd make something of myself. But over the years, the education system has worn me down to the point where I would only show up 50% of the time for my classes during Secondary School years. Still, my teachers believed in me, that I would have a bright future, and I believed them too. I mean, if I were getting paid good money, surely I'd be willing to go to school. Turns out, I don't know myself at all, because a couple months ago, I landed a prestigious internship with a pretty high pay (considering it's an internship) which will provide me amazing opportunities in my future, yet I find myself not caring one bit. I don't care about the pay, I don't care about the “opportunities” that will just open the doors for me to continue to be stuck working for someone else. And it's not even really the workload that gets to me. It's that I have to go to an office, face people who I know only see me as cheap labor, and see all my hard work and efforts go unnoticed. I hardly have time for my hobbies or to see the people I care about. And I understand I am in a privileged position, not needing to pay rent since I am still living with my family. But at the same time, my home isn't the safest for me and I would prefer to move out asap. This means that in the future, whether I like it or not, I will have to work from 9-6, see my coworkers more than I see my future spouse and then feel like shit because I don't actually get to ever feel happy. I genuinely don't see a way out of this, and I'm not sure if I will even choose to live this kind of a life. At this rate I'd sooner choose death, which I am sure many people have experienced before me and chances are, you reading this are also experiencing this right now. Although maybe to a milder extent (I can be dramatic). So my question to you is this: What can I/we, as regular, non-position of power people do about this? Is this an individual issue, where I should just quit my internship and go live in a forest? Or are there actions we can take to push society along?
FYI – any thoughts on my situation would be greatly appreciated too. Call me lazy, ungrateful. Or tell me what I can do to both be financially stable AND enjoy my life. OR tell me I'm delusional and that it's not possible – I don't care. I need something. I'm grasping at straws and at my breaking point. It's crazy that 1% of a billionaires wealth could EASILY pay for so many people's basic needs, yet most people are struggling. I'm just absolutely done.