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UniversalMonk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

I’m a little envious that you have the resiliency and coping mechanisms outside of meds to deal with it all

I grew up in poverty, surrounded by poverty. Rural midwestern town. Population 2,000. Started working jobs 14.

Became a teen dad. Then ended up being a single teen dad when I got custody.

Couldn’t afford college, even with grants. Refused to take out loans.

I didn’t have time to doomscroll and wonder when the world was gonna end. I had shit to take care of. I didn’t even have the time and/or money to drink! I worked two jobs for a huge part of my life.

Now I’m retired at age 55. My house is paid off. I have no debt. Live in a beautiful mountain city of 500,000 people.

My point is that a lot of people would be well served by not worrying about the state of politics and the world at large. The doomscrolling is not good for you you.

I didn’t have time to do any of that shit. I worked hard, made it out, and now I just fuck around on Lemmy all day, write and publish my fiction, and take trips with my gf.

If I can do that, with my dull brain, then most people on Lemmy can.

No hate on meds, but meh, I wouldn’t have been able to afford them anyway.

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mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I don’t know if this is something to be proud of tbh.

You’re basically saying ‘my life is secure; fuck everybody else that hasn’t got what I have’.

I’m glad you built a good base for yourself, now help lift up others. It doesn’t stop sucking for everyone else just because you check out.

IMO you have the obligation to create the environment that allows what you have (an existence without worry for politics) for everyone.

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- UniversalMonk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  
  IMO you have the obligation to create the environment that allows what you have (an existence without worry for politics) for everyone.
  
  So what are you doing that’s creating that type of environment for me and others?
  
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  - mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    I’m an active union organiser and volunteer emergency service worker.
    
    My day job is responsible for helping people with extremely disadvantaged backgrounds.
    
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    UniversalMonk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    And my day job until just a few months ago was special education teaching assistant in an elementary school in a disadvantaged neighborhood. I recently retired from working in the public sector for 20 years.
    
    Feel free to check my post history from the .world instance from months ago, when I was still teaching there. I spoke of my career often.
    
    Guess we are more alike than different, friend. Funny how that works, huh?
    
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- UniversalMonk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  
  You’re basically saying ‘my life is secure; fuck everybody else that hasn’t got what I have’.
  
  Not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying that if an idiot like me, with very few work skills, made it, then you certainly can because you have more advantages than I have had.
  
  I also had a child to raise, so even if you count in costs of living differences between then and now, it’s negated by the fact that I had a kid to care for.
  
  Bruh, I live in a city of over 500,000 people. The majority of people I see are not “just struggling.” People are doing it. Are you saying all of them have had it easier than yourself?
  
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Shortstack@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I think you’re overestimating the influence of doomscrolling, internet and politics in the scope of needing meds to feel baseline, but it definitely plays a part.

Those things, broadly speaking, are somewhat transient unless said politics directly affect your safety or rights to live life, or of those you care about. This applies to a lot of people.

Now I’m retired at age 55. My house is paid off. I have no debt. Live in a beautiful mountain city of 500,000 people. I have chickens in my backyard

now I just fuck around on Lemmy all day, write and publish my fiction, and take trips with my gf.

This is more in line with why many in my cohort are struggling. Your situation is out of reach for most of us now because of a whole lot of economic reasons outside of our control. The singular person being able to side hustle their way to a house with backyard chickens and money for vacations is a win no doubt, but also the exception to the rule.

Lifting our noses off the grindstone and looking at the horizon shows a future without hope of any of this changing. Too much stacked against us.

And for lots of other long term reasons. One off the top of my head, the microplastics accumulating in our bodies. That’s definitely going to be a problem.

My point is that a lot of people would be well served by not worrying so fucking much about the state of politics and the world at large

The cliff notes version is that people are surviving, not living. You are living.

You should enjoy the fruits of your labor, truly. Just be aware your path isn’t one we can follow anymore

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- UniversalMonk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  
  Lifting our noses off the grindstone and looking at the horizon shows a future without hope of any of this changing. Too much stacked against us.
  
  No, I don’t believe that. I 100 percent think you can overcome and kick ass in life and be way more successful than I have ever been.
  
  Keep pushing. You got this!
  
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- UniversalMonk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  You make a good argument, but I would counter it by saying, it’s NEVER been easy. I didn’t have it any easier than you did. I fucking lived off of beans are rice and powered milk for years. Literally. my meals for almost eight years straight was Beans and rice. Beans and potatoes. Every meal. Every day.
  
  Sometimes people at work would have a potluck or something, sothen I’d be able to gorge on meat and stuff, but other than, I was eating poverty food.
  
  I couldn’t afford a cell phone for the longest time. And I didn’t have a car, so I biked/walked to work every single day.
  
  I’ve never made more that $15 and hour my entire life. Trust me, you STILL have it easier than I did.
  
  Now, to your point, housing as gone up. But roommates. I guarantee you have more luxuries than I do. Even now. I bet you have gaming stuff, good internet, better phone, a better job than I ever had, and more importantly–youth.
  
  There are still plenty of people out there making thru life fine and not just struggling.
  
  I’m not downplaying your struggles, but I’m saying they are no worse than what I had to go thru. Even now, my main computer is a raspberry pi that I bought for $50. And my phone cost $110. And my phone plan is $25 a month.
  
  I use my phone for texting and the GPS maps and apps for working out. No gaming because I don’t have the bandwidth or the power.
  
  I bet right now everything you have is nicer and more expensive than what I have. True, I do have a paid off house, but it’s a crappy house.
  
  My pension is less than $1,000 a month after taxes. My trips w the girlfriend are on her dime. Otherwise, I’d just hanging out here all day.
  
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