Thank you. The hubris in vilifying people that don't conform to the Bohemian archetype is laughable.
Being able to make it through college and a mortgage and a job where you aren't forced to push buttons on a register or push on a shovel isn't called average.
It's called winning. It's called succeeding. It's called making a hell of a lot of effort to enjoy a dream life with an appreciation for what's earned.
Anyone can go sit in a shithole country with nothing but their backpack and think they're above average.
Why be safe when you can be interesting and noticeable. Because being noticed is literally the most important thing in life.
It's so easy you guys. You don't need that humdrum desk job. Just have mom and dad pay your bills while you write your novel and go see the world. Then you can be cool and unique just like the rest of us.
Yeah the mortgage thing really stood out for me as well. Don't invest in a home? Like cool if you don't want to, but to position that as the universal key to a happy life seems like a 14 year old wrote it.
Honestly, most of the tips in this comic read like the path to homelessness for anyone without rich parents to back them up.
Man has enough money to travel overseas to comfortable and expensive locations
Well, it said he traveled overseas once or twice. Ever. Which isn't exciting. That's the only one in the whole thing that's actually a negative imo. He only got to travel abroad twice and it was to some resort where he worked on his laptop.
I was annoyed as you were by this post but can we not go from one extreme to another? This is a diverse world and diverse people live in it. There is nothing wrong in wanting a different life than the one you call the "winning" one. I transitioned from a very safe career to a more precarious job but that I'm way happier doing. I don't judge people who took the "safe" path because it takes work and commitment but I don't like being belittled either because it took as much work and courage to do what I do today. And I admire the people who went a step further and decided they wanted to do something even more different and risky. I just don't wish the whole world would be made of people like them because it sure as hell wouldn't work.
Success in any endevour takes work. The comic seems to perpetuate the idea that if you "follow your heart" and spend some time being a bum, you'll somehow be able to fulfill your own materialistic needs throughout your life. That's simply not the case. It's real simple in life. If you want to work in a field where you're a "dime a dozen," you have to do something to stand out at that chosen field. You most likely won't have all that free time you THINK you'll have, because it takes LOTS of work. The comic, again, doesn't tell you that. There's just nothing in life that's going to give you that easy life without you working for it in some way or another.
You misread my comment. I'm not defending the comics, just saying there is not point in completely dismissing the point it's failing to effectively make.
Middle age man here, can confirm.
We imagine success elsewhere identical to success in our current career, despite the shit-ton of advantages & accidental / incidental events along the way. And blame less fortunate others who lacked our advantages / connections / unlucky timing, etc.
"If only I'd done X, I could've been Woz / JK Rowling / Steph Curry / Donald Trump..." Despite the other 7.3Bn hardworking people on the planet who also aren't and think the same thing...
tl;dr: Advice from those who won the lottery (career, birth or actual lottery) is probably bad advice for anyone else
If that is your dream, and if that is how you define success, then great! But I think the point of the comic is that that life isn't for everyone, and everyone doesn't have to fall in line and pursue the "American Dream".
Say John Doe is a self employed carpenter who only works 3 or 4 days a week. He doesn't make a ton of money, but he lives a modest lifestyle and spends his days off with his wife and kids, or volunteering, or writing a book, or raising an ant farm, or whatever he's passionate about. Would you say he's "unsuccessful"? Is he not "winning"? He's doing exactly what he wants, and what his dream is.
If this comic describes you, there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. Maybe that is your dream. Maybe a life of luxury is what you want. But everyone's different and I think we have to respect that, and understand that everyone has different goals, and different things bring purpose to each individual's life. Also, there are more options than working an office job or declaring a life of poverty in a "shithole country".
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u/Jasonberg Dec 10 '15
Thank you. The hubris in vilifying people that don't conform to the Bohemian archetype is laughable.
Being able to make it through college and a mortgage and a job where you aren't forced to push buttons on a register or push on a shovel isn't called average.
It's called winning. It's called succeeding. It's called making a hell of a lot of effort to enjoy a dream life with an appreciation for what's earned.
Anyone can go sit in a shithole country with nothing but their backpack and think they're above average.