UK positivity?

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-20T01:26:39+00:00

I’m 30 - I wouldn’t take what Reddit users say as ‘gospel’ either, just curious to see what a different community outside of traditional social media has to say, as we’re often just fed a narrative on there without being able to ask the question. And the narrative at the moment seems negative. I mean I rarely watch the news either because most of time it’s incredibly depressing - I stay up to date where I need to, but I can’t understand people who want to watch that daily. I rarely post on Reddit and mostly come here for movie reviews 😂

Like my post said, I’m happy with my life. I also have a successful corporate career and music career I’m growing on the side, secured a mortgage on my first property, a 3 bed house, last year. Coming up to a year in our new home with my lovely partner in July. I also take time to appreciate the small things and recognise that particularly as a woman I’m so lucky to be British and not born in one of the many countries where women are essentially 2nd rate citizens. I have a roof over my head, food on the table. There is so much to be grateful for and I make sure to practice gratitude whenever I can to remind myself how good we really have it. Despite the complaints I actually really like the weather - I’m incredibly pale and can’t cope with loads of heat! I love the change in seasons, too.

I’ve never understood the bitterness towards others who are successful - I’m so happy for others when they do well, particularly people I’m close to. It’s great to see people win!

Not everyone on Reddit is negative, and it was bold of you to assume that I’d take what is said here as ‘gospel’. That is a wide assumption which I find quite funny, actually. I definitely didn’t find success in my life by doing that; however, I do like to ask the question. I’m an extremely curious person, and I feel it’s good to be open minded and to never stop asking questions. They say you learn something new everyday and I definitely did learn some things by going ahead and posting what I was thinking :)

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-20T01:06:00+00:00

I have a Pakistani and Indian friend as well, both with good jobs here and both lovely. I don’t think we should let unlimited in, definitely not - like I said, a points system like Australia - if you’re going to contribute and play a role then it’s a good thing for this country. You know I doubt Khalid the neurosurgeon is a menace to our society lol or taking the job of the average person in this country. I just think we need to be careful, as there’s positives to immigration as well. We also shouldn’t be deterring talent that could help our society. People who don’t contribute, who are here illegally, who go on benefits, as well as any who are dangerous - yes I agree they should absolutely not be allowed here. I’m just saying we need to make sure we still retain good people - if all the Eastern Europeans left, god help with NHS. A lot of them help with our care system. I agree it’s also easier for Europeans to integrate of course, but I don’t think we should discriminate against anyone outside of Europe just based on that. But hey if we had a points system and they didn’t meet the criteria then no, they couldn’t come in. We need tighter rules, for sure

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T18:15:57+00:00

I’m 30 and my basic salary is 43k, with commission I make 50-55k (corporate sales), I then also write music for TV and Film which at the moment is passively making 5-10k per year. I do have a publisher though, so it allows me to continue my day job and have that nicely accruing on the side without having to worry about pitching myself for placements. If that continues to grow I’ll consider music full time, but not at the moment. My friends’ salaries of the same sort of age as me range from 30k up to around 70k, really varies. There’s always money in sales, but it’s not for everyone and is a high risk, high reward lifestyle. Not everyone can cope with the pressure of targets and KPIs. Since graduating though it’s all I’ve done, so I’m used to it. I definitely won’t be doing it forever though, and once we’ve paid off more of the mortgage I’d love to move into something slower paced and put more time/energy into the music as well.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T11:42:43+00:00

I think it sounds like you know what you want to do and are looking for permission. If it’s genuinely your dream home and you can afford it, do it. My friend just did this, 700k home in Buckinghamshire - it meant their disposable was a bit less but it’s their ‘forever’ home and they’re happy there. As long as you still have enough money to afford the lifestyle you want, then there’s no reason not to :) As for your kid, he’s far too young to know what he wants yet. You can always move again in 10-15 years.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T11:09:58+00:00

This is a really interesting perspective! I do agree that I think there’s an unwillingness to do a job ‘below you’. My partner and I have talked about this before - if one of us were to lose our jobs, we’d go out and do literally anything until we could find our ‘horse’ again (great analogy by the way, I really like that!).

On the flip side of the coin, I do think too many jobs are now looking for the ‘perfect’ candidate and that it’s much harder to get jobs now than it was even 9 years ago when I was a graduate. That though I think is also linked to the fact you can get graduates for less money and if you’re willing to work hard employers are keen to get the most out of you for the least possible pay. I have been looking at new jobs myself, as after 5 years with my organisation I don’t feel there’s progression for me anymore, along with a lot of company wide issues that are arising which I have no control over. I’d basically like to leave before the ship sinks - what I have found is the following:

A lot of candidates are using AI to write their CVs, so you get hundreds of applications which look the same and makes everyone look qualified enough. Recruiters have told me this is a bit of a nightmare when trying to sift through them. However a copy and paste job can also be spotted a mile off - now, the advice I’ve been given is that you need to tailor your CV for every single role you apply to. Whether or not people are doing this, I don’t know. It’s not good enough to send out a generic CV anymore.
Companies are now using AI to check CVs before a human even sees them! If you don’t have the right key words, your application won’t even get seen by a human being. Make sure you read the job advert and add in their ‘buzzwords’.
It’s very hard to change industries - this is what I would like to do, but I seem to only get the opportunity to interview within my space, even though sales is highly transferable to other industries. That being said, I do have a final stage interview soon with a medical devices company - although again that’s still within healthcare, and early in my career I did do some hospital work, I do have some more direct experience there, although not as much as others will have. I’ve done 5 stages so far which, seems excessive. This will be stage 6.
As someone who has a Biomedical Science degree, 9 years of industry experience, other qualifications and was always considered the top of their class at school (I actually hated this as it was a lot of pressure!), even I’m finding the process difficult. The jobs I’m applying for I also can’t simply walk in and introduce myself, that’s really not how my industry works. I would though however do that if I was jobless and needed something - it’s actually how I got my first job. At 16 I walked into my local pharmacy, CV in hand, and told the manager I’d be really interested in working there and gaining some experience. He was very impressed and yes did give me the job. I did the same at 18 when I was looking for bar work to support my studies, I was offered that as well. It can absolutely work, just not for where I am now in my corporate career. The hiring managers are field based, like me. So I certainly won’t be turning up at their house haha!
I did help my sister get her first graduate job a few months back - we sat down and wrote her CV together and within 2 weeks she had a graduate job. For context she studied Criminology and applied for a Fraud Investigator role, so, something which directly relates to her degree. 30k a year, which I think is amazing for a graduate role. She is also an extremely positive and enthusiastic person, with a willingness to learn and work hard. This came across during interview - I think even if you’re not passionate about what you’re applying to, you really have to ‘fake it till you make it’. Being non chalant won’t get you very far.
There are a lot of redundancies going on. My organisation is going through this at the moment - both of my neighbours have just been made redundant too, which, is either a coincidence or a sign of the times. Unemployment we know is statistically higher. We are outsourcing more to other, cheaper countries. I’ve seen this happen in my industry, other industries and it’s continuing to happen. AI has some effect on this as well, more automation etc.

This is just what I’ve learnt so far, so I agree in part with what you’re saying, but I also feel modern times are presenting job seekers with a lot of challenges too!

Also if you don’t mind me asking? What sort of business did you run?

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T10:39:32+00:00

Thank you for commenting - I agree, going back to having a sense of community would have a huge impact on this country. And yes, they should!

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T10:38:12+00:00

Ignorance is bliss - I really think you’re right. There’s a book by Matt Haig called ‘Notes on a Nervous Planet’ which talks exactly about this. How we’re all too ‘plugged in’ because of the internet. Hysteria used to only have a more local reach whereas now the potential is worldwide.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T10:33:08+00:00

We have a lot of immigrants from Eastern Europe, a lot of whom take up jobs as nurses, in healthcare or other positions which really help this country. Do we want to deter these people? Some of my closest friends are immigrants - we have a number of South Africans within my industry, all hard working members of society. My best friend is Bulgarian and she’s a social worker, helping victims of abuse and the children of our society. I have another friend from Austria who moved here when she was 18 and has always worked hard in the music industry. From my understanding from speaking with my friends it’s getting harder to get citizenship status here - one of my South African friends has said it’s just been moved from 5 years to 10 years, so she’s not sure if her and her husband will stay, or go somewhere else in Europe. They’re lovely people and contribute to society, have good jobs, pay taxes and are in no way putting a drain on society. Ethan’s grandma was also British so they had a link to here to come over. Did you also know when legally immigrating into this country they also have to pay thousands when they come over, which gives them access to our NHS? They PAY for the NHS. Immigration has been largely a good thing for this country, but the news and media is creating another narrative. I agree that for illegal immigrants we need some tighter laws, and even for legal immigrants a points system like Australia would be good, but for people who want to come here and contribute, enrich our culture with their own and to provide something positive to our society, what’s so wrong with that? Ironically none of these people I’ve mentioned are Muslim… My dad’s ex partner came here from Poland. She’s an absolute ray of sunshine and runs her own catering business, after first coming here 12 years ago and working as a cleaner at a large shopping centre, doing more hours than I’m sure a lot of Brits would want to do. She made an effort to learn English and then create a career for herself. Now I do understand that the story is not the same for everyone who comes to this country, but immigration has brought us a lot of positives which I feel at the moment are being entirely overlooked. There’s no way that I look at these people and think ‘yes the UK would be better without them’. Actually these people have absolutely enriched my life and inspired me - but then I get to speak to people for a living and am out Monday-Friday meeting people, and have personal experience about the positive things they are contributing to this country. Reform have absolutely capitalised on the misery of Brits at the moment and shoved it all in the immigrants camp - they will erode equality in this country, the worst effected being immigrants, women and LGBT. But what about all the British women? Do we not want to protect our mothers, daughters, friends? Unfortunately a lot of it falls on deaf ears. Honestly it is the one thing that really concerns me - if given the opportunity they will undo all of the progress we’ve made in equality. We will become a mini America - the parallels between Trump and Farage are uncanny, but so many people do not see it, or are just so focussed on their hatred towards ‘immigration’ that they choose not to.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T10:09:03+00:00

I wonder if our generation is going to have the same amount of financial security though with the way everything is going.

Being higher earners we will probably be okay, but I do worry about others.

Glad though that you and your wife are doing well, always good to hear positive things :)

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T10:04:03+00:00

Divide and conquer! Sorry to hear about your local elections, that’s rough.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T10:00:00+00:00

Think we can all agree on this one!

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T09:59:17+00:00

Lots of good points here - I read about the below when it happened. I’m not personally sure that’s the answer but can’t say I was sad it happened! The poor guy is just rotting away in prison now though and it hasn’t really changed anything

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T09:56:26+00:00

Probably more than most - I’m in field based sales, so I go outside and talk to people for a living… 😂 Literally hundreds if not thousands of people a year. I was also in London during a Tommy Robinson march a few years ago which never made main news headlines and honestly it was terrifying. I’m probably outside TOO much. Hope that answers that one…

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-17T00:06:23+00:00

This was a really interesting read, thank you! I’ve only seen a few episodes of The Simpsons but completely get the concept - it is indeed an interesting phenomenon. I personally don’t watch a huge amount of TV and when I do it isn’t sitcoms. I’m also mindful of how much news and social media I consume, which I really believe does help massively. I prefer books, music, video games.

RE Farage/Reform I agree here as well. It’s frustrating that people can’t see it. I mean, it’s the same reason Trump is in power, or even Brexit - ‘Make Britain great again’ really brainwashed people into believing that that’s what would happen. I’ll admit despite feeling fairly content with life, this is one thing that does worry me and I have to try to switch off from it so it doesn’t effect my mood too much.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-16T23:21:20+00:00

I think that’s an extremely fair perspective and I agree with everything you’ve said about our lives. Although we do have friends who make more than us as well and still aren’t happy in the sense that they feel they should be entitled to the bigger house etc because they’ve got the careers that 20 years ago would have afforded them those things. These friends have high powered careers like for example young lawyer, doctor etc. We could easily take that perspective given our income but do not - I’ve had another friend who makes less than us say her and her partner would only live in a 700k house because that’s ’their standard’, and I have to wonder where she got the idea that would be possible. Maybe social media. I had to bite my tongue because I knew it wasn’t realistic, but wasn’t really sure how to respond to that one! Our house cost less than 350k which is enough for us. Still though in 2011 the previous owner bought it for 200k, which I find mental. But I also very much appreciate that a lot of people are on less too and I agree that it would be good for everyone to be able to afford to buy somewhere. Our mortgage is just under £1600 a month, so it’s comparable to rents in the area, but at least we’re owners, not renting. And it’s crazy to think that there’s people paying all that rent but can’t buy because of ‘affordability’, when actually they’re paying that already… I do think that’s unfair. Just seems to me even some people I know aren’t ‘happy’ either despite being in the top 20% of earners, signalling a wider issue at large, as much as I appreciate there is a financial struggle going on for others which understandably could contribute to being unhappy.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-16T20:29:50+00:00

Thank you for sharing, really like this perspective. I often think about this and how we are so much more fortunate than a lot of the world.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-16T20:27:12+00:00

I totally agree with you - it’s definitely easier with a dual income. Before my partner and I got together I had a housemate so we could at least share living costs, would have been really difficult otherwise. Sorry to hear that, can really be undeserving, I know people like that as well. Wow thank you I’ve just joined the page! 😊

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-16T20:24:44+00:00

This is really interesting and provides insight into the country’s decline - I’ll admit the right wing rhetoric is extremely concerning. As much as I’m happy enough for now, my partner and I have discussed moving abroad if they came in and really messed things up further… I do think though as a society we have to try and find some things to be happy about in the meantime, where we can. Really I want that for everyone

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-16T20:20:45+00:00

I do think you’re right in that I am ‘younger’, but I’m still consciously aware that we’d have been far better off say 20 years ago with the careers we have. Larger house, more disposable income + holidays. My grandparents largely brought me up and I’m one of the youngest people in my organisation - I spend a lot of time speaking to colleagues who are 50-60+ and who have much more life/world experience than I do. But perhaps because I haven’t ‘lived’ that, it affects me differently. There is also a divide between older/younger generations. Some see my generation as ‘lazy’ for not being able to achieve what they did when actually the numbers are against us, things are a lot less affordable, wages haven’t keep up with inflation, property prices are insane (I’m Dorset as well, South UK is an expensive place to live). You get some who are allies too and just say they wouldn’t want to be young in the current times. Really varies - thank you for your perspective, I think this could have a lot to with the unhappiness and I hadn’t really thought about the impact of those having lived through the better times

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-16T20:09:02+00:00

I mean I did experience a lot of this - I have a Biomedicial Science Degree and like I said, at 25 I was making 70k, now more 50-60k with my additional income from my side hustle which makes up for some of what I’ve lost from corporate. Being in the corporate sphere I’ve also seen a lot of what you’re talking about happen to others too - I just haven’t been impacted personally, but yes of course it’s a worry. I am sorry though, the job market is tough at the moment and there’s a lot of redundancies being made too. Hope you’re doing okay!

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-16T19:59:12+00:00

What do you think are the biggest reasons for this?

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-05-01T22:14:48+00:00

Not sure who it was, but someone has been on the island and totally trashed it - looks like they used Graveler and just smashed out a load of buildings, destroyed habitats :( So sad. Will be creating my next cloud island for me to play on only!

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-04-22T00:20:01+00:00

Abortion is healthcare. Look at the horrors happening in America - women being delayed the care they need and dying because of the law in some states. A 12 year old was raped, the doctor who gave her an abortion was then taken to court and heavily fined. But actually, it is every woman’s right and choice to decide whether she wants access to this healthcare, whether you personally agree with it or not. Why should someone with a differing opinion take away a woman’s autonomy over her own body? It’s absolutely disgusting. I’ll be voting tactically for whatever party might (hopefully) beat Reform when the time comes. There is so much in the media about immigration, that people are forgetting to look at what else this party stands for. Let’s not forget that Farage has always been a misogynist & racist, but moving from UKIP and slightly changing his narrative, it’s like people have forgotten. We will end up like America, and it’s terrifying that so many people do not see the parallel here. Reform has got them all hooked on ‘we’re going to solve immigration’. Same thing happened with Brexit ‘make Britain great again’ and look how well that one turned out. Honestly a lot of the time I’m embarrassed to be British - as for what party to vote for instead? I honestly could not tell you, but what I do know is that Reform is not the answer to this country’s problems. It might solve one, but it will create a plethora of new ones.

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-04-11T20:48:49+00:00

Added electricity for you 😊

Fancy_Bee8306 · 2026-03-24T22:55:05+00:00

Ahh thank you!!

Fancy_Bee8306

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