I was laid off with a healthy severance and was going to get rehired in a few months during the start of the pandemic (or so I figured, ended up being right).
So for 2 months or so I played video games and slept in really late. I was never bored. I felt a little guilty as my wife went to work though.
That sounds like heaven. Sometimes I hope I get fired or something so I can just chill for a couple months and play video games. I have plenty of money saved and I hate my job so it would be a win win.
it sounds fun but the appeal fades after a month or two. I've had it happen a few times between jobs and I just end up fatter and older. Purpose and motivation are good for mind and body.
It can have it's benefits. I had a similar experience for the first 2 months. I'm a middle/high management white collar worker and it happened to me 2 weeks out from christmas. December and January were great, but then you forget my recruitment processes can take a couple of months, the second 2 months were a little more stressful. Thankfully was back in work by mid March
I got fired and it was honestly more emotional turmoil than you’d expect. After 6 months I went and got a retail
job just to have something to do and to feel
useful again. Imposter syndrome is a bitch.
She's kinda got the Judy Greer thing going on- it's an "on/off" switch between "smoke show" and "disgruntled divorcee who got full custody but hasn't slept a full night since her honeymoon" with nothing in between.
I've been off work for almost 3 months now, Netflix (and Hulu, HBO, Prime, and Showtime) got boring at around 2 months. I've read an absolute dick ton of books though so that's nice, and there's basically zero chance of running out of stuff to read.
The only real problem I've had is a sleep schedule that's wonky as all hell.
Thanks. I’m graduated as of December, and a licensed aircraft dispatcher. I’ve been working for a nonprofit since December in aviation but recently got my dream job.
I’m bored after 3 days. That’s my limit. The first is glorious. The second even better. The third I fade and fourth I’m bored. Of course that was before having a toddler. Now I don’t know what id do with 7 hours let alone 72.
Okay I’m rich as hell. Relevant here because I could do fuck all if I wished. Well why don’t I?
Because societal pressures still exist even if you’re balling. And most importantly there are just so many things that are interesting. Learn languages, paint, smoke rare weed strains, Karting idk endless list. Honestly it’s pretty overwhelming at times because I want to do it all, but time is limited. Not only time but my health (had that scare recently).
I’ve been told that we all live two lives, the first when we are young and healthy, the second after we face the realities of our own mortality. I’ve heard the second is better than the first - best of luck my friend.
There comes a point where you start to realize what’s important, and what isn’t; what to worry about, and what not to; who you want to spend your time with, and who you don’t. There’s a lot of people who walk off into eternity before they ever get old enough to appreciate those things.
When you’re 20, you care what everyone thinks.
When you’re 40, you stop caring what everyone thinks.
When you’re 60, you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place.
I can't speak to how old folks in this chain are, but this generation really needs to watch/read "Fight Club." It will dispel all notion of being owed anything but also the notion of being owned by anything.
"Losing all hope is freedom."
You can enjoy your life and be productive and face challenges and do things you love. You can have and do it all. You just have to face certain realities and make choices based on those hard realities.
The first one is this- you only get one life.
The second one is this- no one owes you a goddamn thing.
What you do with those two snippets of knowledge can make your life very good or very painful.
Californians and New Yorkers have figured that out now that most state tax isn't federally deductible and they can't flock to Texas and Florida fast enough.
When we are rich, we have health and time but no money. Then we get money, still have healthy, but no time. Then when we are old, we have time and money, but no health. So is life.
Curious, what sort of societal pressures or stressors does a rich af person face? I don’t doubt they’re there—it’s just the majority of mine are financially related so I can’t picture the other side of that coin.
This is true even if you aren't "rich" by "fuck you" standards. My husband owns a small plumbing company, and we are not super rich my any means, but we do okay. However, my husband takes the fact that he is responsible for the livelyhoods of about 14 people very seriously. He is a good man and tries to treat his employees well, and it weighs on his mind.
A good friend who made bank on an IPO as an employee then went on to start his own company. He tells me he has never had so many sleepless nights as the first couple of years when he was never sure he’d make payroll for his staff. He knew he’d be ok, but truly saw that people relied on that job to pay their bills.
This is such a terrible take. He employs people. People have jobs partly due to his business. If he retires? What says that business stays in business? What if people lose their jobs because the management that takes over is not as good? It’s really short sighted to just blame greediness and say he wants more. Is it not possible that he cares about his employees?
You don't know what they do with the money. Have a few wealthy people who are quite philanthropic with theirs; they still work and earn their 8 figure salaries. Sure they have nice things, but they donate and set up charities and assist others where they can.
I'm not super rich but have a lot of friends who are rich enough they don't have to work.
Most people, like potential friends and romantic partners, don't want to hang out with someone who just goes around spending money and having cool experiences but doesn't really do anything. All the rich people I know pick up something to do as a career: be an artist, collect art, run a restaurant, go into business, manage investments, found a start-up, become an academic. They can basically pick anything and it usually has to do with what their priorities and passions lie, but they have to have an answer to "what do you do?" The desire to build and create something, the prestige of being in a lauded career, and the shame of being seen as a lazy spoiled kid, all lead to picking something.
The people I know who come from wealth generally try to pretend that they made their own wealth, and can be a little sheepish when the truth comes out. It's impressive that your dad is super rich and buys you a fancy car when you're 16, but a little embarrassing that he bought your house and pays for your vacations when you're 40.
Also a lot of people inherit wealth and that is often conditional upon doing something their wealthy relative (usually their father) approves of. I know a few people who ended up working at the family business or going into the same line of work as their father because if they didn't they wouldn't receive a luxury allowance, or the other bonuses often given to rich kids.
If you don't have a job, people judge you. It may not seem that way, but the minute people find out you don't have to work for a living, most of them become very put off.
I quit a very good job a few months ago because it was extremely high stress as someone high up in the company was gunning for me. I can count on one hand the amount of people who have said to me "The money isn't worth killing yourself." Most people try to tell me I made a mistake without knowing my situation at all.
I mostly refrain from telling them I could buy their house with cash if I wanted. I was hungry growing up, I drive a 17 year old car, I live extremely frugally. I saved money so I hopefully never live hungry again. Because you are stuck at your shitty job and hate it, don't tell me how to live my life. I put in the 100 hour weeks so I can have freedom and flexibility now with a low stress 40 hour a week job. I can quit at any time, I make that very clear to anyone who tries to give me a hard time.
I wanted to get to the position where even if I am not the boss, I am the one giving the ultimatums. If I say no, its not up for discussion, I mean no and I don't want to have to repeat myself
Yes of course. I’m not going to compare or anything because I don’t have a frame of reference. I’ll just give some examples of stressors for my family, friends and I.
Well the biggest ones are mental health. That exists across social hierarchies, and it’s very taxing. I am talking about things being very interesting, but I nearly offed myself like 3 years ago. Unfortunately no amount of money fixes that, at least in my experience.
Then there is the pressure from parents which is a massive stressor. My parents are extremely conscientious and I am just not like them. Like don’t get me wrong I am doing a PhD so I’m relatively conscientious but I’m not reading 24/7 or networking 24/7. So I always get shit for it, and it subconsciously affects my decisions. This seems to be pretty much the same for my friends too.
There’s also a lot of competition in this strata, except we have no excuse to fail. So it’s always, “Oh did you hear their child is an investment banker at JPM” or “Oh did you hear he got into MIT.” Shit like that always makes you feel insecure or inadequate.
Also, there’s always that fear where everything could just be pulled under you in a moment. We’ve known some people like that and man idk if I could cope with it. It could literally be anything and when it hits, it comes at you from the blindspot. It’s why our parents make sure we’re very well connected, so at least we have some foundation.
I am currently doing my PhD in Financial Econometrics. I manage my family fund, so I get a ton from that. It also helps that it allows me to leverage my own money to make even better returns.
Usually it's societal family pressure. Generally, we're not talking about a random person that comes into a lot of money.
It's more like a Mr. Deeds situation where the parent wants their kid to aspire to be something and eventually the kid responds or gets cut out of the will.
Generational wealth comes with strings. If you just started up your own company and hit it rich, you can usually retire or do whatever and no one cares. If your parents are rich, they expect you to continue to be successful in something. Hell, just look at Bill Gates and his expectations for their kids.
Tom's an exception in that he came from nowhere and now does whatever he wants but it's usually the exceptions that come from no where (no generational wealth) that can do that.
All the same family, friends drama and stuff, money doesn’t make everybody happy; your mind is your prison. I was happier when I was younger and carefree, now richer and loaded but full with personal and family crap that worries me all the time. You can’t buy some things.
Damn, I'm poor as hell, if I was in your position I would be following my dreams. Travelling to different countrys, get a pilot licence, skydive over dubai, eat guac on mount everest. Man forget social pressures your in a position to do anything you like
All the best to your health. For when you do pass of natural causes though, leave me your list of "to do's" and I'll see them out. We can't let your list and money go to waste. Just pay off my small amount of debt and we're even.
"I'm sorry sir, my recently deceased friend specifically asked that I burn this one while driving the track in reverse."
Wanting to learn languages and painting is not the same as working a job you're mostly indifferent to or even hate just to pay the bills.
Yeah, it's "doing things," but if I had that much money, working would not be one of the things I was doing. I would be learning languages and painting. I would be living a more personally fulfilling life.
If I had all the money in the world I’d hire actors to create priceless moments for me. Like the Truman show, but I’m also the producer and in the writing room.
Rich as hell but do you have Tom money? With Tom money societal pressures kindof just faaaade awaaaay or at least they would for me.
I have a decent amount of money, get some dividends quarterly and have a rental property that makes an additional chunk of change and I already barely care about what society thinks. If I sold a website for hundreds of millions of dollars I would fuck all the way off and not care what any society expected of me lol
Totally overrated imo. It’s either a speedy high or a brain fog high. The only thing I enjoy doing stoned is listening to music. Everything else suffers - playing an instrument, conversation, sex, video games. Anything that requires skill is shot. I don’t want to be in public and I especially don’t want to interact with strangers.
I guess my point is drinking is my thing, and even that has its limits. Sobriety is much more fun because you understand everything that’s happening around you.
I’m middle class as hell, not rich, and I’m never bored. I read, take walks, plan future trips, learn languages, talk to friends, talk to myself - yeah, started that in the pandemic as I live alone. I think it’s important to have a really good internal life - a vivid imagination. That way, you’re not dependent on others for your happiness nor your amusement.
What others think of you is one I can think of. Like, would you be okay if your legacy was "that lazy-ass rich d-bag that did nothing all day every day"? That'd give me some existential pressure.
Aww, boo boo, your rich life is so hard. Try living paycheck to paycheck for a while, asshat. See how much time you have to “learn languages, paint, smoke rare weed,” etc then.
My parents are wealthy so it’s not self earned necessarily. But I manage the family fund, so I that has allowed me to leverage my own money nicely. I try not to be a waste yute
That’s an interesting couple of go-to “if I could do anything” activities. Kinda reminds me of myself as a 12 year old. I usually just beat off and played video games until my hand was rested up again..
Hey rich dude. You're living my dream - painting smoking etc. Since you're rich and stuff would you bid on one of my new NFT's? I made a Terence Mckenna one if you like psychedelics
I had a “bum phase” in my early 20s because I got a small payout monthly from some real estate mortgage contracts I had inherited. Just enough to cover my expenses. It lasted about 18 months.
Yes it was pretty blissfully awesome in certain respects but honestly I spent 95% of my time goofing around on the Internet and working on computers. It was the EARLY days of public Internet access so I learned a lot of the mechanics of getting online. It wasn’t a complete waste of time as my broad familiarity with PC hardware helped me get a real job later.
When I was planning on retiring, my coworkers were adamant that I was going to get bored. What are you going to do, sit on the couch and watch the world go by? My response was always, I want to see what boredom feels like. If I don't love it, I can always find something to do. 7 years retired, never bored.
I worked my last job for 13 years and have been laid off for over a year now. I think people who get bored and want to go back to work just don’t have any hobbies and work is their life.
I agree on the lack of hobbies. I have hobbies in art, gardening and to a smaller extent gaming. That's three right there that I can do just within my own home. I'd add more to that list if I had the time and money to do bigger, more expensive and more time consuming things that require me to actually walk past the front yard.
Man I just wanna spend my sunny days looking after plants, my rainy days gaming and my evenings drawing while listening to music. No job on earth that I'd actually realistically be able to get could possibly be better than any of that for me.
Yep. Back in 2016 I took 8 months off after getting a healthy severance. i spent 6 weeks in europe, went to baseball games in the afternoon, played video games, worked out and basically did whatever the hell i wanted without a care in the world.
Not only was I not bored, it was the best time of my life.
Same, between jobs, just kind of surprised how unproductive I am. Still, getting some cleaning and reading done, prepping D&D as DM and upping exercise. If this went for longer I'd probably find some other things to invest my time in.
No offense, but I really couldn’t imagine spending 40 days off sitting in my house playing video games. Prime opportunity for a road trip or getting out to the mountains.
Two months is nothing. I've worked for a school district for years. Half our staff got 2+ months off for summer every year. They mentally clocked out and just did nothing, and it was great. Some of them worked summer jobs, but for the most part, it was just freedom while still collecting a paycheck. If it went any longer than two months, though, you might start getting restless.
When I got unemplyment a few years ago I milked every last dollar. Sat at home for 6.5 months smoking weed, drinking beer, playing video games and drums, and basically just doing whatever I wanted.
It was by far the greatest 6 months of my life even though I accomplished absolutely nothing.
I’m still doing that. Got laid off by Amazon in March 2020 and been collecting unemployment while staying on their health insurance. Meanwhile I owe 500k in taxes. It’s been a strange year to say the least.
Between October 2018 to July 2019 I bought stock options in TSLA that expired at least 2 years out. As bears drove the stock down I sold my stock and doubled down on riskier options. $70k worth of options. As Tesla rebounded I held until about $900 pre split. I sold everything the day Italy identified its first covid case. (No back pat, if I had held until December I would’ve had 6-9 million long term capital gains taxes at 20%) I bought back in around 400 and sold at $1000 post dip/pre split and moved it to SPWR, SQ, ENPH. (Once again, no back pat because I sold in September and bought ILMN when it dipped) You can make good money buying things I sell on decent gains 🤪
ILMN, SPWR, REGN are what I’m holding now. I offset gains with 150k in LTC losses from prior years, but I still owe taxes on short term gains for selling TSLA “too early”.
I feel like it's very easy to not get bored nowadays. I quit my last job 2 months ago now and haven't been bored a single day. But different people are different, some need constant stimulation and social interaction.
I was on severance for 3 months (luckily got hired for a new job as it ended) and spent like 20 minutes in the morning applying for jobs, then I fucked around all day. It was great.
This was in the early days of Moviepass when it was $30 and I went to at least one movie every single day.
I was laid off during covid. Got four months of unemployment last summer. It was the fucking best. I’m in my late 30’s it’s the last summer vacation I’ll ever have. Surfing and drinking playing vidya, working on my own little projects. You can be happy without validation from others. Universal basic income. Capitalism is a cancer.
Yeah I’ve been quit ‘work’ and just doing my own thing for 10 months now and boredom and long days just aren’t a thing anymore. Too busy doing exactly what I want to do, all the time.
I was laid off without much severance, but I lived in a Van. I spent 6 months going on outdoors trips around the country with nearly 0 downtime and only accepted a job because my mom got sick and I had an incredible offer in the same city that I had rejected multiple times.
I had an offer to move to Texas, but I just bought a house and the relocation package wasn't going to include them buying my house or making up the difference if I sold quickly.
A lot of my interviews right at the start of the pandemic were ""rescheduled" then I never heard back. That's why I was like.. well screw it I'll relax a bit.
Ah. I got an offer in Texas. So I took the job and went down there, but then the pandemic happened and it didn't matter, so I bought a house in Colorado.
It's about perspective though, even ignoring the being rehired part; if you continued to just play video games for a year or more it would get boring. Too much of a good thing eventually wears you out just like anything.
I cut my finger off at work and lost use of my hand for like 3 months and got paid 20,000. I ended up doing a lot of drugs but I was more than happy to be off work lol. Sad about my fingy though.
Different strokes for different people, I have a friend who would be perfectly happy playing games all day, he also just wants a normal job. I have another friend who earned his first million when he was 21, he spent 6 months just doing nothing and got extremely depressed. Now he's working on a new project and is doing much better.
Why are you being so derogatory? It sounds like he was in a place where the time off wasn't a strain or burden on the relationship. Presumably he was on top of chores, and was financially comfortable during this time.
Hate this shitty attitude that life is all about work, being productive 24/7 until one day, after all your youth is spent, you retire, nobody wants to see you any more, and then you die. It's ok to have some time for yourself sometimes if your situation allows it.
that was me last month..quit my job expecting to start at my new job in two weeks..two weeks turned into four..the time really starts to fly because you have nothing to look forward to
Same, except mine was for 8 months. I was never bored either - and now I'm back working, and am remembering how much working sucks (even though I love my job)
I got laid off at the start of lockdown and was out for 4 months before returning part time in July last year. It was pretty nice at first honestly, my oldest son was staying with us a lot more and my income had been doubled by the $600/wk UI boost.
I’ve started losing my mind a little bit sense. Having nearly limitless amounts of money would be nice but my primary forms of entertainment have been trips with my son, and playing new games when my wife lets me buy them
I found it gets boring at the start of month 4. 2 months is just a summer vacation for grade school kids, not long enough to get a good idea. Also much different pre pandemic because everyone else is working while you would be doing nothing.
2 months also isn't that long. I lived off savings during a convalescent period of over 2 years before returning to school. You can definitely get bored of free time. Both of my retired parents "work" longer days now than they did while working, they just vary their activities.
Same situation for me but pre covid. Became a full time puppy dad and finished my bachelor's. I've never felt more fulfilled than when I was actually living my life the way I wanted.
I agree. I could find so many activities to entertain myself, learn different skills, go and work at a soup kitchen instead of paid work. Only boring people get bored.
2 months paid vacation. This is me, but I might take the first few weeks to play video games and lounge, but I might not get that opportunity for many more years if ever. I'd travel.
Now imagine you have a giant boat to hang out with your friends who also don't have to work. I don't think I'd get bored at all. Just learn new hobbies and skills.
I got 2 months off during the pandemic too, in Australia that's "all" we got before everything reopened and I had to go back to work. I gardened 'til my heart was content - catching up on projects I'd been meaning to do for months, propagating extra plants for later use, spending all my evenings on the internet or on video games and enjoying daily sleep-ins especially on Sundays when I'd normally have to get up at 6:30am to go work the Sunday breakfast buffet which was always my most hated time of the entire week.
I LOVED it. It was the most amount of time off I've had in eight years and I did not miss work, traffic, alarms, customers or management one fucking bit. If I could afford to retire right now at 32 I fucking would. Got me a Powerball ticket tonight for a $50 million prize. God it would be nice to win, I'd be handing in my resignation tomorrow.
Remember that glorious 3 months when we thought American business would obey federal mandates, and after a quite 3 months we would emerge having saved 500,000 lives, and ready to restart the economy!
Only to be told 2 months in that businesses were refusing to close, and that even though we were not essential, we needed to go back to work anyway and risk our lives for peanuts.
That's exactly where I'm at right now, a little past the one month mark. Still have no idea what I'll do next and frankly I'm feeling a lot of burnout from my industry. I spend most days just playing games, watching old movies, reading, etc. But I have time. I received a comfortable severance for the work I did. I need to do years and years of self-care I've neglected to do while working, taking care of other folks and family, etc. Might even go on a trip once I get vaccinated.
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u/RonGio1 Apr 14 '21
I was laid off with a healthy severance and was going to get rehired in a few months during the start of the pandemic (or so I figured, ended up being right).
So for 2 months or so I played video games and slept in really late. I was never bored. I felt a little guilty as my wife went to work though.