Poll: Do you accept reality?

[bobmus]

I came here expecting a debate on Cartesian philosophy. I am disappointed.

So fellow people, do you accept this as your fate or do you deny it?

Well, I figured out what I wanted to do a few years ago and spent those past few years figuring out how to do it.

I'll be going to university soon, after a gap year, and honestly I feel slightly sorry for people around me who are utterly clueless for the reasons you described.

A lot of those people are just not going to university, which is fair enough, but a lot of them are doing it due to the 'student mentality' of having enough money to get shitfaced with their mates a couple nights a week, so just want to take 'whatever' sort of jobs. I should think that won't satisfy them all their lives, and then where will they be?

What's potentially worse, though, are the ones who are going to uni, but don't know what they want to do with whatever degree they're pursuing.

Maybe a generation or so ago, it was easy to keep doors open in life, but increasingly in modern times, in a society where we have to spend roughly two decades preparing for working life with our options getting narrower as we go along, people are more locked into their paths than ever. Which means if you want to be happy with the destination, you have to figure out which one you want while you can still affect it.

I remember a couple of months ago, my friend and I were discussing a mutual friend who'd messed up his AS year (again) and his parents had kicked him out. Now he's being a bin man to pay the bills, and I thought, 'it's a bit sad that people kind of get thrust into those dead end jobs and their golden years end up being their childhood.'

That said, I'm fully aware there are people who genuinely don't care what work they do, and live for everything besides that. Honestly, I envy those people, but for the majority, something that by necessity must take up possibly around 70% of their waking time is going to have a large impact on happiness.

Sorry if I've ranted. I hope it's of interest to someone.

Out of curiosity, OP, what degree are you taking, and what were your reasons for picking it?

As someone currently doing a degree without certainty that it's what I want to spend my whole life doing, I feel I ought to defend this decision somewhat.

I personally think that attending university is actually becoming all the more important these days, and so getting a good degree is a good place to start. Now, I realise that this doesn't always hold up, and people on here could testify that getting a decent degree doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a job when you leave Uni, but I think when you're not certain what you'd enjoy doing then it's certainly more worthwhile than getting a job like being a bin man :/

I realise certain people might disagree or be offended, but there you go - just my opinion.

 

[The Funslinger]

I came here expecting a debate on Cartesian philosophy. I am disappointed.

So fellow people, do you accept this as your fate or do you deny it?

Well, I figured out what I wanted to do a few years ago and spent those past few years figuring out how to do it.

I'll be going to university soon, after a gap year, and honestly I feel slightly sorry for people around me who are utterly clueless for the reasons you described.

A lot of those people are just not going to university, which is fair enough, but a lot of them are doing it due to the 'student mentality' of having enough money to get shitfaced with their mates a couple nights a week, so just want to take 'whatever' sort of jobs. I should think that won't satisfy them all their lives, and then where will they be?

What's potentially worse, though, are the ones who are going to uni, but don't know what they want to do with whatever degree they're pursuing.

Maybe a generation or so ago, it was easy to keep doors open in life, but increasingly in modern times, in a society where we have to spend roughly two decades preparing for working life with our options getting narrower as we go along, people are more locked into their paths than ever. Which means if you want to be happy with the destination, you have to figure out which one you want while you can still affect it.

I remember a couple of months ago, my friend and I were discussing a mutual friend who'd messed up his AS year (again) and his parents had kicked him out. Now he's being a bin man to pay the bills, and I thought, 'it's a bit sad that people kind of get thrust into those dead end jobs and their golden years end up being their childhood.'

That said, I'm fully aware there are people who genuinely don't care what work they do, and live for everything besides that. Honestly, I envy those people, but for the majority, something that by necessity must take up possibly around 70% of their waking time is going to have a large impact on happiness.

Sorry if I've ranted. I hope it's of interest to someone.

Out of curiosity, OP, what degree are you taking, and what were your reasons for picking it?

As someone currently doing a degree without certainty that it's what I want to spend my whole life doing, I feel I ought to defend this decision somewhat.

I personally think that attending university is actually becoming all the more important these days, and so getting a good degree is a good place to start. Now, I realise that this doesn't always hold up, and people on here could testify that getting a decent degree doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a job when you leave Uni, but I think when you're not certain what you'd enjoy doing then it's certainly more worthwhile than getting a job like being a bin man :/

I realise certain people might disagree or be offended, but there you go - just my opinion.

Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm just saying what with debt and... well, time passing, degrees, and the qualifications necessary to even pursue that degree do lock you in a bit.

 

[Alandoril]

Since I'm staring down the barrel of a meaningless life in servitude to capitalism, I do not accept reality.

 

[Alandoril]

I came here expecting a debate on Cartesian philosophy. I am disappointed.

So fellow people, do you accept this as your fate or do you deny it?

Well, I figured out what I wanted to do a few years ago and spent those past few years figuring out how to do it.

I'll be going to university soon, after a gap year, and honestly I feel slightly sorry for people around me who are utterly clueless for the reasons you described.

A lot of those people are just not going to university, which is fair enough, but a lot of them are doing it due to the 'student mentality' of having enough money to get shitfaced with their mates a couple nights a week, so just want to take 'whatever' sort of jobs. I should think that won't satisfy them all their lives, and then where will they be?

What's potentially worse, though, are the ones who are going to uni, but don't know what they want to do with whatever degree they're pursuing.

Maybe a generation or so ago, it was easy to keep doors open in life, but increasingly in modern times, in a society where we have to spend roughly two decades preparing for working life with our options getting narrower as we go along, people are more locked into their paths than ever. Which means if you want to be happy with the destination, you have to figure out which one you want while you can still affect it.

I remember a couple of months ago, my friend and I were discussing a mutual friend who'd messed up his AS year (again) and his parents had kicked him out. Now he's being a bin man to pay the bills, and I thought, 'it's a bit sad that people kind of get thrust into those dead end jobs and their golden years end up being their childhood.'

That said, I'm fully aware there are people who genuinely don't care what work they do, and live for everything besides that. Honestly, I envy those people, but for the majority, something that by necessity must take up possibly around 70% of their waking time is going to have a large impact on happiness.

Sorry if I've ranted. I hope it's of interest to someone.

Out of curiosity, OP, what degree are you taking, and what were your reasons for picking it?

And when you return from university and understand you've been spoon-fed lies instead of education you'll end up just like the bin man and the rest of us.

 

[TheOrb]

This world is an absolute sh*tehole of blinkered extremist idiots, self-centred corporate minds and complacent marshmallows in front of their televisions. I aim to change that for the better in my lifetime, either through science or through politics.

 

[tautologico]

You don't need to work on a meaningless 9-to-5 job for the rest of your life, you know? You can try to live doing something which is meaningful to you. Of course, how easy/hard that is depends on what's meaningful to yourself.

 

[Coffeejack]

I accept reality when I can handle it and reject it when it becomes what I would call a "hassle". It can stay as long as it's entertaining, but the second it starts bringing up my weight or past mistakes, I reach for the hammer.

 

[ninjaRiv]

Reality is why I drink. The fact that nobody is willing to do anything about it is the reason I drink constantly.

 

[tautologico]

I came here expecting a debate on Cartesian philosophy. I am disappointed.

So fellow people, do you accept this as your fate or do you deny it?

Well, I figured out what I wanted to do a few years ago and spent those past few years figuring out how to do it.

I'll be going to university soon, after a gap year, and honestly I feel slightly sorry for people around me who are utterly clueless for the reasons you described.

A lot of those people are just not going to university, which is fair enough, but a lot of them are doing it due to the 'student mentality' of having enough money to get shitfaced with their mates a couple nights a week, so just want to take 'whatever' sort of jobs. I should think that won't satisfy them all their lives, and then where will they be?

What's potentially worse, though, are the ones who are going to uni, but don't know what they want to do with whatever degree they're pursuing.

Maybe a generation or so ago, it was easy to keep doors open in life, but increasingly in modern times, in a society where we have to spend roughly two decades preparing for working life with our options getting narrower as we go along, people are more locked into their paths than ever. Which means if you want to be happy with the destination, you have to figure out which one you want while you can still affect it.

I remember a couple of months ago, my friend and I were discussing a mutual friend who'd messed up his AS year (again) and his parents had kicked him out. Now he's being a bin man to pay the bills, and I thought, 'it's a bit sad that people kind of get thrust into those dead end jobs and their golden years end up being their childhood.'

That said, I'm fully aware there are people who genuinely don't care what work they do, and live for everything besides that. Honestly, I envy those people, but for the majority, something that by necessity must take up possibly around 70% of their waking time is going to have a large impact on happiness.

Sorry if I've ranted. I hope it's of interest to someone.

Out of curiosity, OP, what degree are you taking, and what were your reasons for picking it?

As someone out of school already (in a sense) and who went through more than one career change... your options only get narrower if you want them to, or your education is so narrow as to allow you to do only one thing. And that would be a very bad education.

Yes, I know, student loans and such, which is a big problem in the US, but not so much in other parts of the world (I never paid tuition for any of my degrees), but even so in many cases you don't need to be in university to get to know what you want/need to know, especially with online courses and the huge amount of information available. For some cases you need certifications and stuff like that, but these are only a few limitations among a big number of possibilities.

And not to discourage you or anything, but you're yet to begin your studies in an university. This tends to be a rather eye-opening experience for people. Based on my experience and the experience of many people I know, the probability you'll change your plans before graduation is quite high.

Don't fret, though, I'd say you're doing well. It's often better to have a plan, even if it changes later, than to have none at all. But I can say to you that a lot of people who went on to be great in what they do did not, for a long time, have a clue about what they wanted to do.