I just ran into someone who I went to school with (~3 years younger than me), whose family I used to know…
They’re very rich (definitely 1%ers), and extremely degenerate…
Her brother is now a tranny. Her father is an androgynous weirdo, and both of her parents are constantly high on designer drugs, every time I run into them (usually at concerts or music festivals, being obnoxious).
This girl… Tells me she has just bought a house. In one of the most expensive houses in my hometown. We’re talking $2M+, average…
So I ask her what she is doing.
“Oh, I’m a professional content creator now. I specialize in TikTok.”
This girl is ugly as fuck, overweight, and probably autistic (think Luna from Harry Potter, but uglier and less endearing). She’s also half-Asian.
I saw a program last night of another TikTok “content creator” in Ireland who was doing up a family mansion, for a few million…
How the fuck is this where we’re at, as a society?
Sure, “bank of Mum and Dad” and all that, but fuck…
Just makes me more depressed and frustrated, tbh…
You have the free time to constantly complain about your life in comparison to others on a reddit spinoff, you live in a first-world country, you're employed, and you almost certainly have access to food, water and shelter, and an internet connection.
The vast majority of the world's population is worse off than you, being on the bottom (or low) rung of a first world country is leagues apart from the same in other countries.
You yourself said you met these people on a plane flight. You have the means to travel through one of the most expensive methods of transportation available to the average person.
Honestly, for "basics", you're probably fine. I don't see you surviving off things like low-cost carbs like salted pasta or bread or anything, which I have heard from other people in desperate straits.
I don't think I'm underestimating your life, I'm sure its very hard, but I also think you're using your life's lowly state as an excuse to stay in that position forever.
Hell, you probably look at your own life as hopeless based on what I'm hearing here. Life will probably continue to suck for you for at least some time, but what happens after that depends significantly on what you do.
If you're living paycheck to paycheck (or contract to contract), maybe its time to find a more stable job and/or increase your own value and skillset. There are plenty of online and community college certifications and skills you can pick up that would allow you to take on different kinds of work, and they're dirt-cheap or free in a lot of cases.
If the area is so bad in terms of rent prices, then maybe you need to find a different place to live.
There are also ways to cut expenses that are available to pretty much every person that would allow you to save more money each month, and if the job's money isn't enough and you want to stay in the area, get a second job. When I was working retail, I knew a lot of people who were working 2 jobs because obviously retail isn't enough on its own to survive and support their families.
Things won't change for you unless you decide to impose your own will on both yourself and the environment you're in, and if the environment you're in isn't suitable for that, you need to find another one.
Hah, been there.
This.
If I don't get a raise within the first year working somewhere, I move on. If OP is contract, it sounds like he should be spreading a wider net and/or increasing his rates; it's easy to fall into the trap of undervalueing yourself, especially when self-employed.
OP, how crazy would it be if you should actually be doing well right now but aren't because you aren't charging what you're worth? Because you undervalue yourself (as reflected in your posts)? It could literally be that simple.