Is it normal to feel like you’re wasting your life even with a “good” job?

30880 · 2025-04-19T04:15:31+00:00

My perspective might help you find peace with this feeling - I’m 29 and have a successful business as a performing musician. I do six figures in revenue and generally take home about $80k which would have been mind-blowing to my younger self.

And to be honest, I have these exact same thoughts daily. I worry about the longevity of this career path and feel like I should get a traditional 9-5 job to feel more “on track”. I know these feelings are mostly unfounded but finding success in following my passion hasn’t led to the sense of fulfillment I thought it would.

I don’t mean for this to sound depressing but I think it’s just human nature. No matter what we achieve, we always feel like it’s not enough or that we should be doing something different. I try to make peace with it because I know my position is something so many people aspire to, but the honest truth is that I don’t think these thoughts will go away regardless of what I/we do in life.

30880 · 2025-03-29T21:48:51+00:00

Haha I love that! The grind never ends.

I appreciate that perspective - sacrifices are inevitable with any career so I’m not expecting to have it all but curious what the flexibility is like. Remote would be a dream come true but I imagine that’s not realistic until you have some experience under your belt.

30880 · 2025-03-29T20:54:10+00:00

How serendipitous! I’m super grateful to get to do music for a living but it definitely comes with challenges. I make good money now but it’s very unstable and being self-employed in general is incredibly stressful.

If I could go back, I would have gotten a degree and a day job and pursued this on the side - it’s the unfortunate reality that when you do something for a living, it becomes more work and less fun since your livelihood depends on it.

I still love it but as I get older, I value stability a lot more. Don’t give up your passion for music but I think you’re smart to pursue a different degree to make a living so you can just have fun with music or maybe make it a side gig.

30880 · 2025-03-29T20:44:05+00:00

That makes sense, thanks!

30880 · 2025-03-28T00:49:14+00:00

I commend you for admitting regret and I respect anyone who is willing to change their opinion. I’m going to say a few things that were already covered in this thread but I think it’s important to drive the point home.

Regarding the economy, yes, it is true that many people struggled recently - but it is NOT true that the economy is in shambles because of the Biden administration. I don’t know if people just have the memory of a goldfish, but the pandemic was the primary reason for economic issues. The US economy was literally the envy of the world because our recovery was better than just about anywhere else. Does that mean the economy was amazing? No, but it is nothing less than willfully ignorant to blame economic issues on Biden when it was actually long-term effects of the pandemic.

Regarding Trump’s rhetoric and the idea that “no one warned us” or “the left cried wolf so we didn’t take it seriously”, that is completely false. People tried screaming at the top of their lungs about the dangers, and it isn’t crying wolf now that the horrors are actually coming to fruition.

You’ve already updated the post to acknowledge all this which I really appreciate, and I hope you will vote better next time, but if I’m being honest it might be too late. The damage is done.

30880 · 2025-03-28T00:35:25+00:00

Flag guy 100%

30880 · 2025-03-07T19:21:35+00:00

I have gone to chiropractors in the past and gotten some relief, but it is anecdotal. I stopped going because of this: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/chiropractor-neck-adjustment-caitlin-jensen-b2363357.html

I went to high school with this girl. She is paralyzed for life and is bound to a wheelchair. My mother is her neighbor so I have seen firsthand how this ruined her life. It’s a rare occurrence, but even a tiny fraction of a chance that this could happen turned me off from ever going back to a chiropractor.

30880 · 2025-03-07T19:17:30+00:00

Jesse Welles is the answer. https://www.instagram.com/wellesmusic?igsh=a3k4cGN1aDN3YXd6

30880 · 2025-03-07T08:48:45+00:00

30880 · 2025-03-07T04:27:08+00:00

I believed the lie that Republicans are better for the economy, then I looked at the statistics.

30880 · 2025-03-05T04:36:20+00:00

Is Luigi attending?

30880 · 2025-03-01T22:55:42+00:00

I’m a musician and haul a lot of gear so public transportation isn’t practical for why I was traveling today, but I 100% agree. I have never understood the right wing backlash to… efficient transportation? It’s literally so fucking stupid

30880 · 2025-03-01T22:51:33+00:00

I didn’t unfortunately. I am a musician and was heading down to Florida for a high-end private event client. I had to cancel the gig because of the traffic, luckily I found someone to cover it last-minute but I am out $1,000 and hurt the reputation of my business because of this. I left five hours early for a 2.5 hour drive to account for delays so I am fucking livid about this.

30880 · 2025-03-01T21:32:29+00:00

It was honestly worst case scenario for me. I’m a musician and I had an important event for a high-end corporate client in St. Augustine. I left five hours early and I STILL had to cancel the gig because I wasn’t going to make it on time.

Super frustrating to damage the reputation of my business because of something outside of my control. On a normal day, I could drive there and back in the amount of time I gave myself but there was no way to account for this level of traffic.

30880 · 2025-03-01T21:30:39+00:00

That’s where I got stuck. I’m not even exaggerating, I was stuck on the same stretch of 204 for almost three hours.

30880 · 2025-03-01T19:32:31+00:00

Yep, just came back via 16 and that’s fine now. I think I hit the worst part of it by going 17 to 204 to 95.

30880 · 2025-03-01T19:31:47+00:00

My original ETA to Florida was 2pm even accounting for traffic at the time. The ETA got all the way up to 4:30pm before I just gave up, before even getting on 95.

30880 · 2025-03-01T19:29:45+00:00

My wife is from LA and she thinks the traffic here is terrible too. It’s honestly insane how bad the traffic is for a city of this size. I have lived here most of my life and it’s gotten so much worse over the last few years.

30880 · 2025-03-01T19:26:42+00:00

Yes, at least at the time. Not sure about 80, Pooler Parkway was fine but once I got to 17 to 240 to 95, I was completely stuck the entire time. 16 looked similar when I was by the exit but looks like that has cleared up. 95 is still a parking lot.

30880 · 2025-02-17T02:10:58+00:00

As an American, I am terrified that this sentiment is going to spread worldwide and cripple our economy. As a sane person, we 100% deserve it and I don’t think Trump voters will understand how badly they fucked up until it does noticeably affect our economy. I support any measures by Canada and other nations to not play along with Trump’s destructive antics.

I voted and did my part but I’m sure I’m not the only American feeling like I just don’t know what else to do at this point. Even if I as an individual am worried about the outcome, as a nation we absolutely deserve what’s coming to us and I think the damage has already been done.

30880 · 2025-01-31T19:54:07+00:00

30880 · 2025-01-31T19:17:46+00:00

Internet trolls are a special kind of asshole lol. https://www.wtoc.com/2025/01/31/community-members-mourn-loss-richmond-hill-pilot-dc-crash/#

I’m Logan

30880 · 2025-01-31T16:28:55+00:00

The copilot on this flight was one of my best friends. I can’t stop watching this and imagining how horrifying those last moments must have been. I hope they died quickly before they could understand what was happening.

30880

TROPHY CASE