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On the Luxury of Abandoning a Nice Corporate Job for the Freedom of Freelancing
I think in the future these are the types of statements from rich people that are going to cause riots in the street.
I was just reading the post that this quote came from and I was having feelings. First, it’s a great post. Definitely valuable for anyone looking to up-level from just having a great corporate job into true career bliss.
Definitely admirable, and the author did a great job talking us through it.
But the whole time I was reading it I kept thinking of all these books I just read about the middle working class, who is essentially clawing their way through every single hour of every single day.
They’re working at Walmart. They’re driving Uber. They’re raising kids. They struggle to pay rent, to buy food, to pay for healthcare. And they’re trying to be parents at the same time. And that’s the bottom 2/3 or so (people disagree about the numbers) of everyone who works.
Imagine them on a midnight shift at Walmart, stocking shelves because the new robot that just arrived isn’t good enough at it yet, working 30 hours a week here on random days that don’t qualify for benefits by design. And imagine reading that working a job that axes your flow is not an option.
The axing of flow. As a priority. What an amazing life to have where this is your problem.
Anyway, then there are some who make decent money, but aren’t doing well really. They make 40-70K a year, or maybe 80K as a household. They’re struggling, but they’re getting by.
And then we have people like this author (and me too, I must say), who are so fucking blessed that we can say things like she says in this piece. More goodies like:
Leaving your job is scary enough. Quitting without a solid plan is even scarier. But damn, is it ever exhilarating.
Exhilarating. Leaving your nice corporate job. That pays more than probably 90% of all jobs in the country, where you probably do far less work.
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When I hear it on its own I want to give her a high-five. Great job! Nicely done. Reclaim the soul, for sure.
But when I hear it in the context of the struggle that most people are facing, I can’t help but feel scorn. Scorn for her for being tone deaf, and scorn for the world for having this much disparity in the livelihood of people.
Her post should apply to everyone, not just the top 10% that it actually applies to.
The only real fault I see in what she wrote is that she seems unaware of her blessed state. It’s almost like she’s saying this to the world. Quit your job! It’s so much better. A bit challenging, but worth it!
News bulletin: very few people in the entire world work for fun, or find anything redeeming about work whatsoever. They do it for survival and nothing more.
I feel like the entire piece could be fixed by just saying—somewhere in the post—that she feels lucky to even have this option, because she knows most do not. Sweet. That’s all I needed to hear.
But as it stands it just sounds disconnected from the world, which I think is happening more and more. People live in their little tiny worlds and are unable to empathize with the plight of The Other.
Again, it was a great piece. I just couldn’t help but feel like she was disrespecting those who would do anything for the job she escaped from.
But that’s not her fault. That’s the world’s fault. That’s all of our fault.