Fed up of working.

Actually it's only relatively recently that I've really shifted towards this attitude, but then, it's only recently that I've been faced with the possibility of entering what people call the "real world". Right now I'm a postgraduate student, but it's fully funded so it's really not much different from a 9-to-5 job - the pay and hours are about the same. I get up in the morning, I go into my department's building, I work all day, and I come home feeling too tired to do anything but chill out then go to sleep.
This is OK for now because I'm lucky enough to be able to carry on studying a thoroughly interesting subject (particle physics). But I'm not living, I'm just grafting constantly. Also, the chances are that after my PhD I won't be able to carry on in academia, just because competition for postdoc positions & beyond is too high. That means I'm probably looking at a career outside of physics, which doesn't thrill me. I'll be working the same as I am now, but in something that I probably won't care about.

So, with regards to Nixon's comments, yeah, mucking around all the time gets boring after a while. I start getting restless after a couple of months of having nothing but free time - it is good to have goals/purposes. Being a student has always provided that, just because increasing your understanding of the world is a reward in itself. But - the world of work does not appear nearly as fulfilling from where I'm sat. What does a person's purpose become once they enter the world of work?

Most of their waking hours become about just helping money circulate through the economy, doing jobs they don't really give a damn about doing. There are exceptions, but this is surely true of the majority - they'd rather have the day off if given the chance, they'd rather not be there if they don't have to. They just turn up because they have to, because that's what you do when you get saddled with stresses & responsibilities you don't really want - job, mortgage, wife, kids, debts, etc.
And, people get saddled with these things because they've been drilled with the message that's the right and proper way to live life. That if you don't have an important sounding job or a fat pay-cheque or a marriage or whatever that you're somehow inferior or unsuccessful. People feel massive pressure to achieve a certain status and I think it's wrong that this happens.

Infact, our whole society thrives on making people think they have a reason to feel insecure or inadequate. This is what spurs people on to work harder to achieve that status, and to buy the products (eg. clothes, make-up, even cosmetic surgery) that they think will ultimately mean they are accepted in the eyes of others/society. It's hugely important to our economy.
From childhood we're all told to fret over our appearance, our intelligence, our achievements. We're brought up basing our happiness & self esteem on what the rest of the world thinks of us, whether or not we are accepted - again, there are expections, but this applies to the vast majority of people to varying degrees. It breeds jealousy, narcissism, paranoia, competition, dishonesty, egotism. Everyone is constantly comparing themselves to everyone else, people hide their differences & fret over their image/reputation for fear of being judged.

What this has produced is people who aren't really free or happy. They're mentally enslaved. Ask yourself why people want the things they want, and do the things they do. A hell of a lot of it is about satisfying other peoples' percieved expectations (the whole christmas ritual has become a good example of this). I started to realise this in myself a while ago, and once I recognised it, it was the first step to becoming free of it. These days I care less and less about how I stack up to the rest of the world, and I am much happier for it. I wish everyone could realise this because the world would be so, SO much better.

Anyway, where is it getting us really? Does this seem like a happy society to live in really? Look at how much **** goes on every day, it's all born out of this system. True, we've got some freedoms & luxuries, but really is it worth spending the majority of our adult lives doing things we don't really want to do? Sacrificing our free time & our peace? We need to get past this idea that working every possible hour just to buy more stuff is the way to happiness - it clearly isn't. But - no employer wants an employee who isn't committed to handing over every possible hour they have to give.

I say **** that, there's got to be a better option than this. We're a very clever species and we've surely solved harder problems than this. Nixon seems to think people are happier living like hamsters in a wheel, but really, it seems very pointless to me. We get a very brief time to be alive on this awesome planet, so forgive me for not being excited to spend it in some office with a bunch of other people who don't want to be there either.

Their will always be pain. It may last for a day, a month, or even a year. Although, something will soon subside it.

Hard work pays off.

I hope that's true cuz I'm working my butt off for A2s as much as I did for AS! I really do hope all the work is worth it, I know what I did wrong last year so if I rectify and put the same amount of work in, I can only hope it works in my favour

I'm currently in my AS year at the moment. What did you do wrong last year? (Just making sure I don't make the same mistake as I'm procrastrinating like hell).

I don't understand why i cannot just take my own advice.

I want to say something my dad told me in relation to this. He said that when he was young, him and his family (parents and siblings) lived in a village and they didnt work. They had animals such as cows and lambs to provide milk and meat and the government also places a water fountain which continously runs cold and clean water for them. They also had a built in boiler to keep them warm which they didnt need to pay for. And in relation to what your saying, that is what I exactly want, when I go to visit there, I am never NOT relaxed, its like I am free from all stress and etc. And I will love that to happen here in the UK in which people are not required to work but live and have fun. I hate the idea that I have to work 60 years of my life and going to university next year is the last step of education before heading out to the 'Real World' and I am dreading working possibly from the morning till about 6pm continiously for 5 days a week for the rest of my life before I get old.. I see it as a waste of life really..

I am fed up of working constantly. I'm fed up of spending all my time during the week and at weekends doing work and revising. I'm fed up of staying up until 1-2 every night doing work. And when I'm not doing work, I feel guilty that I'm not and so never really relax properly. I feel bad if I don't wake up early at the weekends... to do work. And once I finish A levels, it'll just be uni, then going to work for the next 50-60 years. All life is is work! It never ends! Any advice people? Just feel fed up!

I am fed up of working constantly. I'm fed up of spending all my time during the week and at weekends doing work and revising. I'm fed up of staying up until 1-2 every night doing work. And when I'm not doing work, I feel guilty that I'm not and so never really relax properly. I feel bad if I don't wake up early at the weekends... to do work. And once I finish A levels, it'll just be uni, then going to work for the next 50-60 years. All life is is work! It never ends! Any advice people? Just feel fed up!

What do you mean by "work?" Homework and revision? Or an actual job?

It's all about balance. And at the end of the day, it's life isn't it. Learn to cope or else fail. This is why I have personally have chosen a degree whereby I will find it fulfilling and satisfactory, and therefore not feeling anm "Oh ****, work today " feeling when I wake up in the mornings - something I do now with my part time job.

Also, life is what you make of it. In order to live life, you need money to survive, and the only way you can do that is by working, so you may as well accept it. Unless you wish to do it Amish style...

I meant studying. I just need to try and find a balance I think. I don't have any idea really what I want to study at uni or do as a career in the future.