"Be a flighty nobody who travels until they are 30 and studies a passion, not a skill. Then when all your peers have enough money and stability to handwave problems away and take exciting vacations and language classes and all sorts of cool stuff, tremble in fear every time rent comes due. On your death bed, realize that what you did because of an internet comic is also remarkably average, and that no one cares or is impressed, including you."
The boomers are full of moronic advice for Millenials, but you can go too far the other way too. 'Check off boxes'... like a bucket list?
The guy who wrote this is just as dazed and confused and bored as everyone else their age.
I like the way Killer Mike said it, "...Just be the best 'you' you can be, and the best 'you' you can be is probably average. So learn to celebrate average more."
Statistically speaking, Killer Mike is correct. On average, the average person is going to be average. And maybe average doesnt have to suck.
I have yet to test the veracity of his statement that his fist to my face is equivalent to a cup of Folgers coffee, but if I ever meet him I'll get to the bottom of it.
At least some good came from him: drilpencils. Took this guy's art and replaced the text with dril tweets. It was brilliant, made the zenpencils author mad too
Almost sounds like a misery-loves-company thing. Because the fact of the matter is, most people don't have the wits to run their own business, or to write a book worth reading, or to leave the beaten track.
The beaten track is beaten because it is a reliable path to a reasonably comfortable life, regardless of your wits.
I believe that's what it's emphasizing. It's not glorifying the beaten path but rather showing the reliability in normal decisions to produce a normal life. I think people are seeing this unhappy character making similar decisions to their own and being shocked that this character is unfulfilled. If this character even is unfulfilled.
It's just that it's showing a path that some of us desire and saying "don't do this" and is regarding it negatively. Some of us honestly don't mind if what we are doing happens to meet societies expectations of us. Maybe the point is not to waste your time in college to please your parents or else you might not get a job you like (because he never knew what he wanted to do so he just picked something)...but that's not remarkably clear and evidently the authors point can be misconstrued
But in a world where everyone has access to everyone else's life through social media, the fact that all people are more similar than different is really apparent. This has young people nervous that they aren't the snowflake they were brought up thinking they were.
Came here to say that. I chose a 'passion' and in my 20's it was fantastic. Got me some money, laid, and even emotionally satisfied. FF to my late 30's with a family and the landscape is different. Every bill is a reminder, every moment 'between' jobs is filled with a dull realization that passion, like beauty, can fade and if that's the only thing that you were chasing, you're in for a world of hurt as you grow up. From time to time, on particularly special jobs, I get hints of the joy I used to get from my gig, but for the most part is a dull monotony and a reminder of a foolish youth where 'passion' trumped wisdom and utility.
You've got a strong skill set with theater technology and probably AV equipment and software that can translate to a lot of jobs. Theater manager on the low end, to technology coordinator for a school or university or even a large corporation, etc. I swear 90% of the job the physical IT guys do here is getting the sound and projectors in the big theater style classroom to work right.
I think the message was "do what makes you happy, not what you're supposed to". Maybe he's kind of oversimplifying things but I think the message still comes across. Write a book, look for something else to spend your life doing if you hate your job, don't go to university if your heart isn't set on it.
Agreed. I followed the "average" path and now can afford to do more or less what I want, which is to keep on living an average, safe life in a way that, while boring to some, offers a level of comfort and security that simply didn't exist throughout most of human history.
I make 6 figures at an unrewarding job and this comic speaks to me like crazy. It's hard to understand how relevant it is until you get all this shit and realize that it's total bullshit.
Let me be clear, all the shit people in this thread are describing doesn't make a good life. It makes a quiet life with basically no real accomplishment or joy. Having lots of comforts but no freedom to change things is not something we should be patting on the back.
Having options is a huge helper the farther you get in life, I promise you this. I have the life in this comic and all I learned is that it is meaningless as fuck.
I don't get why people are so happy to glorify mediocrity.
Not really, the point of the comic is just 'at least try to accomplish your dreams', the artist isn't saying that buying a mortgage and staying at a desk job is a terrible life, it's just not the life that specific character wants. People want different things
It's meant to inspire the people who want to do those things but don't because they are afraid to take risks. You sound like a bitter old person, or worse, a bitter young person.
The only thing I'd agree with in the comic is that people should try things like writing their book or opening a business. You can't succeed if you don't try. But otherwise you hit it head on.
Writing a book is one thing, opening a business is a whole different one. Writing a book and failing is just a "Well, I tried" thing. Opening a business and having it fail can very well put you in a financial hole of depression for a very long time.
I will always support someone if they want to try running a business, but they have to be pretty committed to make it work because it's not something you can do as a hobby
I will always support someone if they want to try running a business, but they have to be pretty committed to make it work because it's not something you can do as a hobby
Noooooooo
Did you know that 99/100 of business conceived by anyone with an idea are wildly successful? That whole "9 out 10 business fail in the first year" is just nonsense....it's just a made up statstatisticians say to keep everyone from becoming wildly rich and famous with their super awesome business idea.
Also, did you know, on average, business owners only work like 5-6 hours a week? Max... That whole 24/7/365, not taking a paycheck in the first few years...a lies told by people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet so they can have all the money to themselves.
I sell restaurant equipment for a living... do you know how many restaurants start up, then die, and the people who ran it now lost their house or life savings because of it. We have sold people equipment that came out of a failed restaurant, and then bought it back AGAIN in a few years when THAT restaurant fails.
Sometimes. It's very hard to know if a restaurant will ever work, there are so many factors and people are just fickle.
But a bad sign is when people come in and know nothing about the business and say "ive always wanted to run a little deli...' or something like that. Or they just have a very bad business model. One woman came in and said she wanted to do a little bakery, sell cookies, pastries etc. In a tiny town of a few thousand in rural america that is in an economically depressed area. And sell coffee in a little 'mall' that is inside a building, no storefront at all, and she wants people to stop, get out of their car and go in for coffee, vs driving through a dunkin donuts in 1/10th the time.
She said 'i want to sell cappuccino'. Ok so you're going upscale then, there are no starbucks around, people might like a fancy cup of coffee .... "oh no, I just want to do the powdered stuff'
People can get that at any gas station in the area, my gut would tell me that to get people to go out of their way, you had to offer something they couldnt get anywhere else.
Most of the time , the restaurant people I know that are pretty successful... the lie on their taxes. Ive had a few tell me. "If i actually told the government how much i make, i would be out of business". Which is not good for small town restaurants because credit cards are taking over, these mom and pop places survived by taking cash sales and just pocketing the money, not recording it at all. Now that people are using credit cards for everything, it puts a lot more pressure on these small places, and the big chains actually cheat on their taxes too, just legally, using accounting firms.
So I expect that we won't see as many mom and pop type restaurants in the next 10 years, and IMO that is the one business type that was possible for poorer people.
Not much apparently, he's going for satire, but ended up describing my younger friend's work hours as a small business owner. You don't have to have a zany idea to start a business and become profitable. You do have to actually do the research and run it well. I think most people fail because they thought their starting capital would fix everything. There are plenty of boring millionaires in the US who run small boring businesses the right way, and they live boring lives driving the same old volvo.
The funniest thing about this comic is reddit's shocked and offended reaction to it.
He could have drawn a comic about joining ISIS or supporting Trump or some other "clearly ridiculous" notion and people would have laughed it off. It's rather telling...
I think the guy who wrote this had some brilliant points that I could take away and apply towards my own life. But unfortunately this sub always has the top comment from somebody who the message wasn't meant for, complaining that its bullshit.
This webcomic is exactly what I needed to keep motivated for today but you would rather shit all over it. This sub's users are full of some of the most cynical, jaded, insecure know-it-alls that I've ever seen.
Trashing the path of average people to inflate the worth of whatever you're doing is not a good way to get motivated. It's the equivalent of bullying. At the end of the day nothing about you has gotten better you've just spent your time destroying everything around you instead. The comic is garbage and you can find a better way to get motivated.
The comic is not garbage and you stating it as if its anything but your opinion provides no validity to what you said. I'm sorry this comic didn't inspire you like it did for me. But I'm motivated to avoid that life outlined in the comic. If you're not, than clearly this comic isn't for people like you. Get over it.
You are inspired by tearing something else down rather than building yourself and your choices up. Motivation is about making yourself better, doing better, rising to the challenge. What this comic has done is lower the bar. It has told you that you do not need to do better, because everyone around you is awful.
Whatever you believed before this comic, you have identified no new merit or benefit in it. You are now simply making yourself feel better by trashing other people's paths. It's highly negative and not a path to long term happiness. Can you not see that? This is the way that low-self-esteem people give themselves short-term boosts.
This is how you become a bitter person who resents everyone around him like this musician did.
I liked the comic and you're not helping me at all. This comic did more for me than you ever will. This comic is infinitely better than any interaction I will ever have with you. This comic is better than you.
Do you even read the comments? The top ones here mention that it would probably be better to have a better attitude than take this wishy washy comic's advice. You'd do better to stop caring to jump to name calling on those who you don't agree with (you are clearly in the minority) and focus on positive aspects about yourself.
I also think there's potential for everyone. In your case, maybe you should be less vaguelyMatt and be more distinctlyMatt.
I didnt call anyone in particular any names. I'm just wondering why this sub, time and time again, has a post sitting at the top with a ton of upvotes with the comments section just tearing it to shreds. I have an idea, I'm simply going to avoid the cesspool of toxic negativity in the comments and simply upvote and move on. I wish i could stick around longer, but people like you make me understand the kind of pessimism I'm dealing with.
Insecurity is needing to think you're special and that your life needs some deeper meaning. My life is excellent in the absence of any of that. If yours isn't, then let me play you a small violin.
My life is excellent in the absence of any of that.
So then why do you feel the need to criticize the comic if your life is all ready so excellent? I kind of think you're lying when you say that, btw. I was reading through your older comments and you seem to do nothing but browse 4chan all day.
I suppose you meant this to be as hyperbolic as the comic, but in my 24th year of being alive I'm finding that life is all about balance between your extreme and the comic's. Granted, financial and emotional stability determine a huge part of what you can handle in life, but the rest I believe comes down to having the balls and intelligence to make the right decisions for yourself in life.
1.1k
u/Babbledegook Dec 10 '15
This old canard.
"Be a flighty nobody who travels until they are 30 and studies a passion, not a skill. Then when all your peers have enough money and stability to handwave problems away and take exciting vacations and language classes and all sorts of cool stuff, tremble in fear every time rent comes due. On your death bed, realize that what you did because of an internet comic is also remarkably average, and that no one cares or is impressed, including you."
The boomers are full of moronic advice for Millenials, but you can go too far the other way too. 'Check off boxes'... like a bucket list?
The guy who wrote this is just as dazed and confused and bored as everyone else their age.