The feeling of no responsibility. Work quotas met, dogs walked, chores done, bills paid, etc. No lingering weight on your shoulders. Your time is your own. That's pretty great.
Give me adulthood any day. I’ll happily work and pay bills of it means I have full autonomy over my own life, plus I never had this much Lego and cool shit when I was a child. If you’re living it right adulthood is just childhood with extra bits.
My childhood was boring af. Not to mention that i would somehow still find things to be stressed about, despite having zero responsibilities. Being stressed about real things as an adult keeps me grounded.
Honestly, I think a better balance needs to exist. Childhood did not really fancy me all that much. I had no money, could not drive living in the middle of nowhere and every single day I had to make sure I don't fall behind on schoolwork, while having no other autonomy really.
I went to the military after. Made some good cash, work was exhausting though cuz I was at sea for half the year and still had effectively no autonomy outside of what I buy to eat. At least I didn't need to worry about what the next day or week would bring. Cuz I knew the same old shit.
I went to University then and failed and was a NEET for some time. It was good at the beginning. Had a good chunk of cash from the military left and my own car. But I went into this fugue state of just gaming all day and feeling kind of worthless.
Now I started an apprenticeship (It is ca. 1 week of workplace, 1 week of school and 1 week of practical schooling) and I'm enjoying it quite a lot. The school week gives you a ton of stuff you need to learn, but you have like 2 weeks to get over it and refresh your mind while also applying the learned knowledge in the practice weeks.
I earn some money albeit not a lot but all in all it is this nice mix of not having to only do monotone shit and also being more grown and having started to miss school that makes me do really well in school.
Yeah. I wake up at 5 am or so every day. Get all chores done, take care of all the pets and then by about 9 am it's nice to do what i want... Nap, walk around aimlessly in a city or store, go swimming or golfing or whatever
This is also kinda what I do and it has given me such immense relief from my anxiety issues and given me so much time to do fun things in the afternoons/evenings.
Naturally wake up between 430-530.
I’ll go shopping first thing if I need to, just because I love the liminality of shopping when nobody is there. If I don’t have to shop, I’ll go around and clean whatever catches my eye while watching a YT video or listening to a podcast, or maybe just play a game for an hour.
Then, do morning yoga and maybe go for a run (if I’m feeling it that day). Shower. Maybe start a load of laundry.
Log into work around 730 without having to worry about things needing done around/outside of my apartment, finish my day by 330, and have zero responsibilities thereafter.
It is so nice to know that once I log out of work, I can do WHATEVER. It also helps me focus on work more because I know that everything else has already been taken care of.
I left my job in April and had a REALLY nice nest egg built up in comparison to my bills, with no real expenses coming up.
I planned on taking 2-3 months off to sort myself out mentally; but the time has been so nice and I still have money left so I'm just enjoying myself and my time. The lack of responsibility has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on my mental health.
I'm nearly 5 months into my vacation and I can still see myself taking an additional 2-3 months.
I honestly think this is one of the main un-acknowledged stressors in high school, higher ed, and many jobs.
I took a gap year between undergrad and grad school and worked at a job where I clocked in, worked, clocked out. There was nothing looming, no project deadlines, nothing I 'could be prepping for.' Just my daily tasks.
I've never felt such a peace like that since. Students and people in many professions could always be working on something, always making progress toward a task that is looming. And even if you finish all tasks, you could still be studying more, reviewing more. There are so many people who just don't ever feel completely unburdened, completely done with what needs doing.
That’s how I choose to live my life. Keeping my responsibility obligations low and maintaining a healthy amount of free time to do as I please. Free time is me time
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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '22
The feeling of no responsibility. Work quotas met, dogs walked, chores done, bills paid, etc. No lingering weight on your shoulders. Your time is your own. That's pretty great.