{∅, {∅}, {∅, {∅}}} : Rage Against the Meat Grinder
General Category => Why Work? => Topic started by: Nation of One on July 21, 2014, 08:50:50 pm
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I don't mean to tell anybody else how to live, but here are some suggestions ("what I would do if I were you") for each of your points. maybe they'll prove inspirational to you:
1. debt. Ignore it. What can they do to you? Repossess stuff? Then don't have anything valuable that they might want to repossess. How you stand on man's imaginary number line of financial value has no implications on how great or fulfilling your life can be. I have a good bit of debt accumulated in the form of hospital bills, but I'm not worried about it because I have no way of paying it and nothing they could possibly want anyway. But my life is more full of meaning and purpose than it's ever been at the same time.
2. security. I've learned a long time ago that security is a myth. I learned this when my parents divorced, I learned this when my grandmother died, I learned this when hurricnae katrina caused me to lose everything including my college career. The rest of the America learned this on September 11th, 2001. Don't forget your lessons, security is false, and danger is so much more romantic anyway.
3. fear of change. you'll throw your fears to the wind when your situation becomes so desperate that you absolutely can't take it anymore. When you demand to live your life with meaning. When you refuse to do anything less than chase your dreams every single day of your life.
4. peer pressure. This is a tough one because nobody will accept what you're doing if it violates the social norms they've been conditioned to submit themselves to. All I can say is find new friends. If who you truely are is a "free spirit" and they can't accept that, then they aren't truely YOUR friends, are they? They're friends with your mask of social acceptibility and conformity, not you. Your family only wants (and deserves) your love. If they require you to be something you're not, kindly explain to them the situations that led you to where you are and don't let them pressure you into anything you don't want to do. Being independent demands their respect. Doing anything they say for acceptance does not. And also know: you can never please people enough. They will always expect more and more until you're burned out, the best way to deal with this is to leave the game on your own terms and set your standards for how you will live.
5. self-worth. You don't need a wage job to be useful to society. If you derive value from helping others, there are more ways to do it than being a cog in a machine. And you would find that once you're free of your wage job, you have a lot more time and energy to do far more useful things for people. Starting a community garden so you can feed yourself and your friends. Having a 'food not bombs' or 'really really free market' event to help out single moms or people who are hard up. having skill sharing events to show others how they can also break free from their wage slavery, one bit at a time. do work for charitites, volunteer, whatever you need to do to put something back into the system. bumming out all day is boring and unfulfilling, and after a few days recovery from your "wage slavery" you'll be energetic and motivated and have all the time in the world to make a huge difference in many peoples lives. more so than flipping their burgers or ringing them up at the register.
6. dependents. Yeah, um, maybe what I'm describing isn't for you. If you can't support your dependents through an alternative lifestyle, and they're not willing to make lifestyle changes to assist you in your liberation, then maybe you should get in touch with people in your area who can help you break free a little at a time. You should be the one receiving the goods and services I describe in 5, above.
7. self-reliance. You'll find that you are not alone in your desire to break free from the system, and that community is tantamount to freedom. You do not have to be self-reliant, and in a world where all of natures resources have been replaced with strip malls and pavement, you'll find it's actually impossible to be self-reliant. You can survive and live comfortably and enjoyably on the waste of western civilization, but community gives you hope and it gives you encouragement and it gives you more sets of hands to accomplish bigger goals than just living. Like civilization building. Creating a real alternative to the system (not just living off the waste of it) is possible with community.
Finally, being on the street can be scary, but it's also a fresh start from which you can build a whole new life for yourself with nothing to lose. A life of your design, a life you choose. Not something someone else pressured you into, or anything you don't want. Totally yours. And that's what life is all about. Those people on the street who hate it, who are those people? And the ones dressed in rags begging for food or money?! With a hand on each shoulder I try to shake free an answer. If they're not enjoying it then they must not be doing it right. There's a certain survival attitude to it, a hunter-gatherer thing. A romantic, fighting-for-your-life-so-fight-foul-because-life-is-real-and-its-all-we-really-have kind of thing. I love it, and have never begged for money and dress quite fashionably in my thrift store duds.
No one is more qualified to decide how you should live except you. Still, if you need encouragement, advice, or inspiration, that's what we are here for. We want to see you free, regardless of your circumstances. I hope this has been helpful.