What is wrong with doing nothing with your life?

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  • the key to happiness
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 9:27am CDT
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    I am serious.

    I am considering moving out of the country and living somewhere with less pressure to succeed in society. Is there anything wrong with living a life just laying low and relaxing?

    If I were a vagabond, I'd have no responsibilities and nothing to really get upset about. My expectations would completely change and my life would just be traveling and seeing new things. Of course, I'd miss out on having a partner or woman in my life.

    I just hate how society has standards for people and if you choose to live easy then you're considered a loser and get no respect.
  • phony
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 9:51am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    Volunteer at a childrens' hospital.
  • Simple answer
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 9:57am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    By all means, go ahead. Truth is, you can probably find a woman anywhere, living any kind of life. But the sort of woman you'll want is very likely not the sort of woman who will want someone living the life you'll be living.

    Try it. You will probably get bored and find motivation to "join the game", so to speak. In that, you can perhaps find the meaning in succeeding.

    Or perhaps it will suit you. Whatever works. You never know until you try. Just don't be so quick turn your nose up at those who are trying to succeed. You think you're the only person who's thought of this or tried this?
  • Grinding My Gears..
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 9:58am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    the key to happiness wrote:

    Of course, I'd miss out on having a partner or woman in my life.

    A "Partner" huh?
  • Geityner
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 10:04am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    Nothing wrong with that. Just be honest and don't try and live off the taxpayers dollar.

    If you sleep in a homeless person's city provided shelter, you are living off the taxpayer.

    Also, I'd prefer you stay off our roads since we the taxpayer built them and you intend to contribute nothing.

    Same goes with the emergency room.

    The list goes on.

    See the movie "Into the Wild" but be a little more careful what you eat.

    I wish you a sincere good luck if you do this.
  • weird dude
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 10:18am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    hated work made enough to retire early after a few years was miserable took a big financial hit had to go back to work went into a different field will am happy and plan to work as long as I can

    lesson is find some type of work that is more rewarding than taking it ez and you will be happy

    get to the point where you really do not care what others think you can do this by acting rude or stinking or wear strange clothes... ect eventually you will see thru the paper tiger of what other people think of you you will also realize how egocentric your worries are
  • Sagarun
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 10:27am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    Stop being unemployed and living with your parents and go do something with your life. Study a hard science or engineering. Then get an MBA with a concentration in finance.
  • gimpy
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 11:18am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    I'm just taking a "monk approach" with my thinking. If I can surround myself with people who don't compare themselves to eachother with material then I should be good.
  • mighty porn stache
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 11:45am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    No, there's nothing wrong with having no ambition.
    Look at Hitler. He had ambition. But don't we all just wish he woulda stayed home and gotten stoned?
  • swineflu69
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 11:55am CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    I am doing a teach English abroad thing next school year in Europe. I tried to get a real job but I guess I'm not impressive enough for employers/HR people and I probably don't have an in demand degree. I was reading in the paper about a guy who taught English abroad for a couple of years, then tried to be a musician for a few years, then worked as a portfolio manager at a major investment company at 29 with just his bachelor's degree, then quit that at 40 something to become a winemaker.

    Some people are going to have jobs and kids in their early twenties. If you are not one of those, it's cool to go exploring for a while. Maybe you will get inspired by something.
  • livinlite
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    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:02pm CDT
    re: mighty porn stache
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    Wherever you go, there you are. Trying to run to a different place in the world to be "happy" will never work unless you find a way to get happy inside first. Society isn't the problem, it's your attachment to a fixed-world view that says "things should be X way, but they aren't, so I gotta get the fark out".

    It really is all in your head.

    Why not try to find a middle path?

    Find a job you can tolerate, cut your expenses to the minimum so you can work less and run more. The American Dream doesn't have to be about a McMansion...it can simply be about having the freedom to do what you want, when you want. If you can find a way to drop the societal conditioning in your mind that tells you you have to be a certain way, you'll find the freedom you want and the happiness, without having to vagabond around the world, drop X, and mooch off the system.

    On the other hand, all night parties in Goa are fun...but just remember...you can get stoned to the bejesus on a beach in LA or on a mountaintop in Montana for a lot less travel cash.
  • Acedia
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:02pm CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    Maybe it is just your attitude - your attitude toward society, responsibilities, expectations, etc. You can still have a relatively stress-free, care-free, enjoyable life without taking such extreme measures.

    Not to say that making such a decision would be wrong - I don't think people should do anything that they don't want to do. Live your life exactly as you see fit. But, maybe if you have stress and are getting upset about life right now, it is because of aspects of your personality (i.e. the way you handle stress, uncertainty, etc.) and your attitude toward it all.

    As for the last part - being considered a loser and getting no respect - you just need to forget about that. Those who may consider you a "loser" don't matter; the people that really matter, your family and friends, will understand no matter what your decision may be. And as far as getting "no respect," gaining people's respect comes from a lot more than what job you have and how much money you make. Respect that you get from a position or status is not real respect anyway, so forget about it.
  • think and do for yourself
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:04pm CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    I would respect you more for choosing a life of nothing, then if you work your tail off for the benefit of someone else just because they give you a slap on the back and tell you good job. Those people are the ultimate losers in my book.
  • Wildwood
    registered
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:13pm CDT
    re: think and do for yourself
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    think and do for yourself wrote:

    I would respect you more for choosing a life of nothing, then if you work your tail off for the benefit of someone else just because they give you a slap on the back and tell you good job. Those people are the ultimate losers in my book.

    Well said. I'd like to go ahead and re-define success here: Satisfaction with one's life and accomplishments. If you are happy with what you're doing in life, you're successful. If you're unhappy with your life, get out there and change things up 'til you're satisfied.
  • bloomballed
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:19pm CDT
    re: think and do for yourself
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    Stop babying this loser by 'affirming' his idiosyncratic 'desires.' life is about work, that's what it means to be a human. a couple thousand years ago if you didn't work your ass off you died, pure and simple. what makes us different from monkeys? we build stuff. lots of stuff. we transform the world around us, to make ourselves comfortable, to make life enjoyable. odds are this loser, when he goes off to relax and find himself, is going to be employing a whole lot of the vast technological and engineering marvels humanity, collectively, has created over our 2500 year history. (i mean history in terms of when civilizations really started up; im no stoopid xtian who thinks the universe started 4grand anos pasado) and so if he just takes that, doesn't contribute to his own or society's betterment, he is failing what it means to be a person, what it means to live a meaningful human life. go ahead and smoke yourself stupid on a beach in goa; but don't pretend to be enjoying yourself and thereby finding some kind of faux-meaning. you're just being a pig, rutting in the mud and eating slop, wallowing in sensuous pleasure with no sense of self and self-consciousness. the point of running is that we make ourselves better, that we put work into ourselves. work is what it's all about.

    booya hegelmofos.
  • bloomballed
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:21pm CDT
    re: Wildwood
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    Wildwood wrote:Well said. I'd like to go ahead and re-define success here: Satisfaction with one's life and accomplishments. If you are happy with what you're doing in life, you're successful. If you're unhappy with your life, get out there and change things up 'til you're satisfied.

    unless what you're doing ultimately isn't objectively worthwhile. hitler did what he liked, we all wish he'd have just stayed home and gotten stoned. it's wholly possible to reason about what ought to be satisfying and do that. the OP's scenario is not reasonable as a means of living a satisfactory human life. he's one of the scumbag losers i walk by on the street and despise for his lack of ambition and desire for self-betterment.

    again, think of it in a running context. those pos's who don't put in any effort ought to make you angry, because why do the sport at all then? similarly, if you aren't going to put in effort, done play the game of life.
  • Guppy
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:28pm CDT
    re: Wildwood
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    People are too closeminded in my opinion. A lot of people think the only way to live is to go to college, get married, have kids, live in a house, keep a steady job or two for 40 years, then retire. How boring. As long as you're not hurting anyone else, what's the problem? I understand people getting mad at people living off the taxpayer, but just cause you don't settle down somewhere doesn't mean you're going to live on welfare.

    I figure I'm young, single, not tied down to anything. I'm gonna try and do some traveling and carefree living for a while after school. Once I get tired of that I'll start thinking about buying a house, getting married, etc.
  • mighty porn stache
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:35pm CDT
    re: bloomballed
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    bloomballed wrote:

    hitler did what he liked, we all wish he'd have just stayed home and gotten stoned. .

    I already wrote that, but I used it correctly (in the movie's context anyway, which is similar to the OP's context).
  • You need fulfillment
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 12:46pm CDT
    re: the key to happiness
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    Before you do, read the book "Happier: Can you learn to be happy?" or "The Pursuit of Perfect" by Tal Ben-Shahar. Very good work on what it takes to be truly happy - and leading a fulfilling (not idle) life has an awful lot to do with it.
  • an honest mistake
    11 years ago 04/30/2009 1:02pm CDT
    re: bloomballed
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    don't take life so seriously. you'll never get out alive.