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I faced this precise dilemma. I finally just quit. It was less stressful to do what I wanted, and worry about the bills than it was to have the bills paid by no

I faced this precise dilemma. I finally just quit. It was less stressful to do what I wanted, and worry about the bills than it was to have the bills paid by not doing what I wanted.

blackguardx 17y ago
What did you want to do? How did you know? Did you just follow a gut feeling? I ask because I am struggling to find what I want to do. There are many possibilities that seem interesting. It seems easier to find out what I don't like. Using process of elimination would take quite some time.
- pmichaud 17y ago
  Well, I knew what I wanted my hobby project to be, and I also have a rough long term goal. So, upon reflection, I realized that I was spending 95% of my time doing shit I hated doing, or at best was ambivalent about, and I decided that was no way to live my life. I didn't have some grand scheme, I just said to myself: look Pete, you wake up and you think about how you want to spend your time, and it's basically the same every day, but then you ignore the impulse so you can "pay the bills." Just stop ignoring the impulse. That's what I did. So if you're feeling like "Fuck it, I want to [lay on a beach/travel the world/go on a spirit quest/write a novel/program a game/whatever]," then just do it. It might even be worth screwing your credit rating and losing your worldly possessions over--that's not a big deal, in the scheme of things. It doesn't have to be forever, it just has to be enough to break you out of your rut. I wanted to do two things: 1) Write more 2) Create my "grand opus" video game That's what I'm doing now, and I love it. I make perhaps 5 times less than I used to and I put up with it being cold in the house because I stopped programming full time and started freelance writing. Big deal -- I wake up refreshed and excited, and the writing I'm doing, I'm doing in such a way that it will support me passively in years to come. I have a realistic opportunity to never have to work again, and it's because I broke out the the rut of "I want to stop this job, but I need to pay the bills." I could be wrong statistically speaking, but for me personally, the right answer is: Fuck the bills.

I faced this precise dilemma. I finally just quit. It was less stressful to do what I wanted, and worry about the bills than it was to have the bills paid by not doing what I wanted.

blackguardx 17y ago

What did you want to do? How did you know? Did you just follow a gut feeling? I ask because I am struggling to find what I want to do. There are many possibilities that seem interesting. It seems easier to find out what I don't like. Using process of elimination would take quite some time.

pmichaud 17y ago
Well, I knew what I wanted my hobby project to be, and I also have a rough long term goal. So, upon reflection, I realized that I was spending 95% of my time doing shit I hated doing, or at best was ambivalent about, and I decided that was no way to live my life. I didn't have some grand scheme, I just said to myself: look Pete, you wake up and you think about how you want to spend your time, and it's basically the same every day, but then you ignore the impulse so you can "pay the bills." Just stop ignoring the impulse. That's what I did. So if you're feeling like "Fuck it, I want to [lay on a beach/travel the world/go on a spirit quest/write a novel/program a game/whatever]," then just do it. It might even be worth screwing your credit rating and losing your worldly possessions over--that's not a big deal, in the scheme of things. It doesn't have to be forever, it just has to be enough to break you out of your rut. I wanted to do two things: 1) Write more 2) Create my "grand opus" video game That's what I'm doing now, and I love it. I make perhaps 5 times less than I used to and I put up with it being cold in the house because I stopped programming full time and started freelance writing. Big deal -- I wake up refreshed and excited, and the writing I'm doing, I'm doing in such a way that it will support me passively in years to come. I have a realistic opportunity to never have to work again, and it's because I broke out the the rut of "I want to stop this job, but I need to pay the bills." I could be wrong statistically speaking, but for me personally, the right answer is: Fuck the bills.