7 ms·

I don't know, back in 2016 I left my job indefinitely with no plans and after about 4 months I got pretty bored. I could have lived without a paycheck for a bit

by mym1990 4y ago

I don't know, back in 2016 I left my job indefinitely with no plans and after about 4 months I got pretty bored. I could have lived without a paycheck for a bit, but something in the back of my head was telling me to get back on the horse. I think some people are naturally self starters and can thrive in the self employment space, and some people like to have the structure taken care of by someone else. There shouldn't be any judgement on someone that might miss something about full time work, there are some great benefits.

tayo42 4y ago
idk how you got bored. theres so much to do! so much to learn, classes to take, places to go, books to read, chores really never end. the possibilities are endless.
- famahar 4y ago
  Some people link their whole identity to their job. The ones that build their personality and interests outside of the workplace are the ones that find the most fulfillment when unemployed.
  - mym1990 4y ago
    Ah yes, feeling comfortable in a workplace environment now means that the person has no personality and interests...now that is a pretty crazy assessment!
- mym1990 4y ago
  But I do all those things while I also have a job...there are really so many hobbies and chores you can fit into a 16 hour day before it just becomes blah. One of my main hobbies is tennis...2 hours a day 4-5 times a week is plenty fine, I'm not going to be a professional athlete. Your comment on possibilities being endless is one of the issues for some people...in a day where anything is possible, people get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing at all.
  - maherbeg 4y ago
    Yeah, that can definitely be hard to fill if you have no other obligations. If you have a family though, opening up 40 hours a week for your own personal fulfillment is pretty incredible.
  - borroka 4y ago
    It is a defeatist attitude; you are surrendering to the current culture. Let me ask a question. If you happened to win $10-20-50 million tomorrow, would you show up to work (assuming you have a "regular" job, where you have to show up on time, ask for vacation time, get a performance evaluation, semi-begging for a promotion) as you have done for the last I don't know how many years? I don't even know if I would take the time to send my laptop back or talk to my boss about my departure. And not because I'm having a bad time at work, but it's very clear in my mind that this is something I do because I need the money. I try to "have as much fun" as I can while working, but I would have a lot more fun elsewhere.
- rr808 4y ago
  > learn, classes to take, places to go, books to read, chores Sounds like college? I got pretty bored with that after a while.
- sawyna 4y ago
  I'd be the same. There are so many things to do, so many new experiences to feel. If I ever get retired, I'd just go back to university and start from scratch in a completely complementary field that I worked all my life so far.
readthenotes1 4y ago
"get back on the horse" no, you are the horse. i don't understand people who get bored in retirement. 7 years in and no hint of it. My dad's been retired for 12 years and he's the same.
- cmrdporcupine 4y ago
  for me it's a challenge to keep my personal projects focused and structured a job helps with prioritization, as there's a driver towards a common goal and schedule of course it can also be infuriating and frustrating. I took time off from January to about July of last year, but by April or May I was starting to get stressed out by aimlessness. But also financial fears, and a fear of falling way behind the market in terms of tech stack and relevancy. Also, in software development projects especially having multiple contributors can really help. i tend to stall on personal projects after some time with work (UI work especially) i simply don't want to do. EDIT: What I'd ideally like is a job ... but built around one my personal projects/interests. How great would it be to have a product manager, a UX person, other developers, etc focused on refining something I was passionate enough to start building myself? Which I guess is one way that people end up heading down the technical cofounder path, but that is a whole... thing. So far I've had some bad luck when my employer's interests intersected too closely with my own, because there's always the frustration that I'm putting aside my own creative ownership for someone else's who just happens to have the $$.
  - mym1990 4y ago
    This feeling of aimlessness resonates well...I mean maybe I am just a sheep that needs to be herded. Maybe it is social media showing people doing these crazy achievements which make mine feel minimal. Probably it is a mix of many things.
    - cmrdporcupine 4y ago
      yeah... unfortunately github itself has become social media. between jobs i spent a lot of time putting stuff up there. mostly personal interest and none of it complete. but found myself turning it into a bit of a portfolio. which.... i dunno, it's sad. because i do those things for personal intellectual interest, but the job market penetrates so much that even that stuff gets captured. i hold out hope for once i can retire, and once kids are out of the house, have no mortgage, etc. then I'll be able to focus clearly enough on my personal projects hopefully in that context i'll make much better progress
e40 4y ago
My CPA/tax guy is 89. He works 20 hours a week, more during tax season. He told me that his friend group all retired at 65-70. They made fun of him, the group of 7 or so guys. Over the next 10+ years they all died and the last few told him he was the smart one, to keep working and have a purpose. The truth is that some people lose their purpose when they retire and some do not. My dad retired at 60 (forced out), he's 88 now. He has a very strong purpose in his life (a sponsor for a bunch of younger men in AA) and he looks as good today as he did 20 years ago. When I take an extended stay-at-home vacation I definitely don't feel as purposeful as I do when I'm working. I actually like getting back to work. However, I'm a founder of a 39 year old company, so it really is my work. Just a small set of data points.
- bryanlarsen 4y ago
  That's a very American attitude. There's a French expression "Life begins at retirement". Working is something you do for money, it's not the reason for being. It's probably part of the reason why the French live longer than Americans. It's also the reason they riot when the retirement age is raised.
  - seizethecheese 4y ago
    And a very natural consequence is lowered living standards over time compared to Americans.
    - westernpopular 4y ago
      By what metric? I'm sure French people don't mind their work life balance, comparatively low inequality, long life expectancy, and good healthcare and infrastructure.
      - propogandist 4y ago
        The PTO my french teams have is incredible. The taxes they have to pay (about 50%) is horrendous.

tayo42 4y ago

idk how you got bored. theres so much to do! so much to learn, classes to take, places to go, books to read, chores really never end. the possibilities are endless.

famahar 4y ago
Some people link their whole identity to their job. The ones that build their personality and interests outside of the workplace are the ones that find the most fulfillment when unemployed.
- mym1990 4y ago
  Ah yes, feeling comfortable in a workplace environment now means that the person has no personality and interests...now that is a pretty crazy assessment!
mym1990 4y ago
But I do all those things while I also have a job...there are really so many hobbies and chores you can fit into a 16 hour day before it just becomes blah. One of my main hobbies is tennis...2 hours a day 4-5 times a week is plenty fine, I'm not going to be a professional athlete. Your comment on possibilities being endless is one of the issues for some people...in a day where anything is possible, people get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing at all.
- maherbeg 4y ago
  Yeah, that can definitely be hard to fill if you have no other obligations. If you have a family though, opening up 40 hours a week for your own personal fulfillment is pretty incredible.
- borroka 4y ago
  It is a defeatist attitude; you are surrendering to the current culture. Let me ask a question. If you happened to win $10-20-50 million tomorrow, would you show up to work (assuming you have a "regular" job, where you have to show up on time, ask for vacation time, get a performance evaluation, semi-begging for a promotion) as you have done for the last I don't know how many years? I don't even know if I would take the time to send my laptop back or talk to my boss about my departure. And not because I'm having a bad time at work, but it's very clear in my mind that this is something I do because I need the money. I try to "have as much fun" as I can while working, but I would have a lot more fun elsewhere.
rr808 4y ago
> learn, classes to take, places to go, books to read, chores Sounds like college? I got pretty bored with that after a while.
sawyna 4y ago
I'd be the same. There are so many things to do, so many new experiences to feel. If I ever get retired, I'd just go back to university and start from scratch in a completely complementary field that I worked all my life so far.

readthenotes1 4y ago

"get back on the horse" no, you are the horse. i don't understand people who get bored in retirement. 7 years in and no hint of it. My dad's been retired for 12 years and he's the same.

cmrdporcupine 4y ago
for me it's a challenge to keep my personal projects focused and structured a job helps with prioritization, as there's a driver towards a common goal and schedule of course it can also be infuriating and frustrating. I took time off from January to about July of last year, but by April or May I was starting to get stressed out by aimlessness. But also financial fears, and a fear of falling way behind the market in terms of tech stack and relevancy. Also, in software development projects especially having multiple contributors can really help. i tend to stall on personal projects after some time with work (UI work especially) i simply don't want to do. EDIT: What I'd ideally like is a job ... but built around one my personal projects/interests. How great would it be to have a product manager, a UX person, other developers, etc focused on refining something I was passionate enough to start building myself? Which I guess is one way that people end up heading down the technical cofounder path, but that is a whole... thing. So far I've had some bad luck when my employer's interests intersected too closely with my own, because there's always the frustration that I'm putting aside my own creative ownership for someone else's who just happens to have the $$.
- mym1990 4y ago
  This feeling of aimlessness resonates well...I mean maybe I am just a sheep that needs to be herded. Maybe it is social media showing people doing these crazy achievements which make mine feel minimal. Probably it is a mix of many things.
  - cmrdporcupine 4y ago
    yeah... unfortunately github itself has become social media. between jobs i spent a lot of time putting stuff up there. mostly personal interest and none of it complete. but found myself turning it into a bit of a portfolio. which.... i dunno, it's sad. because i do those things for personal intellectual interest, but the job market penetrates so much that even that stuff gets captured. i hold out hope for once i can retire, and once kids are out of the house, have no mortgage, etc. then I'll be able to focus clearly enough on my personal projects hopefully in that context i'll make much better progress

e40 4y ago

My CPA/tax guy is 89. He works 20 hours a week, more during tax season. He told me that his friend group all retired at 65-70. They made fun of him, the group of 7 or so guys. Over the next 10+ years they all died and the last few told him he was the smart one, to keep working and have a purpose. The truth is that some people lose their purpose when they retire and some do not. My dad retired at 60 (forced out), he's 88 now. He has a very strong purpose in his life (a sponsor for a bunch of younger men in AA) and he looks as good today as he did 20 years ago. When I take an extended stay-at-home vacation I definitely don't feel as purposeful as I do when I'm working. I actually like getting back to work. However, I'm a founder of a 39 year old company, so it really is my work. Just a small set of data points.

bryanlarsen 4y ago
That's a very American attitude. There's a French expression "Life begins at retirement". Working is something you do for money, it's not the reason for being. It's probably part of the reason why the French live longer than Americans. It's also the reason they riot when the retirement age is raised.
- seizethecheese 4y ago
  And a very natural consequence is lowered living standards over time compared to Americans.
  - westernpopular 4y ago
    By what metric? I'm sure French people don't mind their work life balance, comparatively low inequality, long life expectancy, and good healthcare and infrastructure.
    - propogandist 4y ago
      The PTO my french teams have is incredible. The taxes they have to pay (about 50%) is horrendous.