>>17200174
That's life. It isn't all bad, you just need to shift your perspective a bit. There is much to be enjoyed, just not the pursuit of selfish goals and desires.

Oh man, and consider that this adult generation has more free-time than any other before it, and people were still able to live happy lives in the past. Ask yourself what was different about the way they thought that allowed them to be happy with so little selfish time, while you dwell in misery with more than they ever hoped.

>>17200174
Its funny looking back on childhood and thinking of all the wasted time watching sunday cartoons amirite? OP Your gonna have to keep working hard until you retire. Unless you win the lottery or get a very cushy job. Free time is something you have little of. I think you need to take time off of work and go somewhere. It doesn't need to be a fancy get away. Just a little time to think about how things stand with you.

>>17200174
If you jump into adulthood too early you'll regret it. At some point in life you'll realize that you find more joy in eliminating stress than from seeking out excitement. When that happens, you'll be ready for an adult life - because when that happens you'll find joy in doing the dishes (eliminates the stress of bad smells and ants), mowing the yard (eliminates the stress of dead grass, weeds, etc), and all of the other house upkeep that prevents you from enjoying your 16 free hours with tons of cash from work

Until you hit a point that eliminating stress is more fun than seeking excitement: live in a small apartment, stay single, go out to clubs on the weekends, spend your money frivolously. There's always time to save later. Have no regrets when you die.

Then do as geniuses do. Streamline.

Automate the processes of your life that you don't enjoy. If you don't want to spend time making food, don't spend time making food. Sit down, create a food plan, and stick to it. Have shit pre-cooked and ready to go, and you'll reduce your meal times to as little as 20 minutes instead of 2 hours to assemble, cook, and eat something.

Have too much stuff to look after? Get rid of it.

Get a home gym solution, eliminate the time required for transport.

Efficiency, man. Doing the tiniest thing everyday can save you a lot of time in the long run.

>>17200216
>Ask yourself what was different about the way they thought that allowed them to be happy with so little selfish time, while you dwell in misery with more than they ever hoped.
I think about this as well. I think the answer is that there weren't as many options as there are know. Today, there are so many options for people with money. You want to start a business in Asia? Plane flight, hire a local lawyer who speaks English, viola. That just wasn't possible or within reach to most people for most of human history. Hell, people with money can go to space. Space.

We have entire virtual worlds now.

We have most pieces of literature ever created by mankind at the tips of our fingers.

There is a lot of stuff to do these days.... and life seems to be being trapped at a desk working to make other people money all day... followed by spending what money I do make on procreating.... whether that's dating, sexing, or child raising. I include the gym in "sexing" because working out has two big effects on a guy's life - health and more sex.

Anyway, I'm trying to say yes, I can practice positive thinking and be "fairly" content with practice living the future life I see... but I feel very trapped by the course I'm on. I don't want to be a wage slave, a husband slave, a dad slave, and an ATM for offspring for the next 30 years.

>>17200224
> the wasted time watching sunday cartoons amirite?
Watching power rangers, pokemon, voltron, x men, spider man, etc. etc. with my parents or best friends are some of my favorite memories.

>It doesn't need to be a fancy get away.
I hear you. I have vacation I don't use. I hate the idea of vacation because it's a tease. I get a few days to pretend life is something more... then i return to my job for another 12 months until I have another 2 week vacation time saved up. What? And many people don't even get two weeks!

I have to make more money. I have to generate enough wealth to get out of this trap.

>>17200174

its hard to pursue anything when you ahve a 'full time' relationship. as much as TV makes it look like a man can just spend an hour or two in the garage owrking on his car and be happy, thats not the case.

I dont know about you but when i work on a big project, it consumes me. i have a little time i can hang out, but for hte most part im buried up to my nipples in work and have only the late night portion of the night free to cuddle up and have fun.

but girls fucking expect you to want to hang out all day every day especially when you move in together.

you'd think moving in would make it less pressure but its not.,

>>17200262
I totally agree. I hope you do this as much as possible too.

Let me tell you this though - being super efficient doesn't change the content of your life. You can be running an unsatisfying life super efficiently.

>>17200265
I didn't mean wasted time in a bad way op. Time you enjoy wasting isn't wasted time. Its just pointing out the fact that it could have been spent doing something productive. Real talk if you been working at the same place for a long time ask for a promotion, it never hurts.

>>17200269
OP here, this. This so much. I love my girl and I want her in my life but Jesus fucking christ keeping women in balance is a full time hobby itself... that's if you want to fuck her and have her leave you alone at all, etc. If you want her to act right, you as a man have to put in the work and time to act right too. It's so much easier to just not have a girl.... but girl's are nice to have around in their own right.

I hate that it feels like I have to choose between have hobbies and having a girl / kids.

>>17200294

for me i chose hobbies. i still see girls, but i tend to cut things off around 3 to 6 months in before it gets too serious.

Ideally id like to find a girl who has serious hobbies of her own or who i can collaborate with on mine. but if not just a girl who wants to hang out twice a week (maybe three times on a slow week) is nice.

my current girl is on the busy side so im not quite sure what things will be like when she settles down. were both industry people so we can work together in little ways, but i dont think we could fully collaborate, time will tell.

but for now shes busy enough that we really can only see each other tiwce a week, if that. and thats nice.

im sure living with someone is great and fulfilling and the idea of them being a lifelong partner (though i dont really believe in that thing so maybe id just feel too uneasy to get to this point anyway) must feel nice.

but honestly when i cant work on my projects i just get depressed and worried that life is hell and all that jazz.

I'll take hobby over gf any day just sayian.

>>17200286
Honestly I have and I am. I am paid in the top 10% of my field with my experience in my city according to glassdoor. I'm cool with top 10%. And I got there by being a ruthless mother fucker.

This is why I'm on an anonymous image board whining to you guys - I honestly feel like I'm doing "everything right" and I'm still not satisfied with my life....

I'm still not satisfied the way I used to be satisfied on my first play through of Chrono Trigger, the random Xmas gift from Dad that turned into a life changing experience. Nothing I've done as an adult has ever approached that level of satisfaction.

>>17200174
Maybe join a swingers' club

>>17200306
shit. my current gf will be sad to hear this. thank you for sharing

>>17200335

lel, i didnt mean to say that to sway you. but if you feel you must, go for it. i dont regret anything.

a woman cannot fulfill me. but i could be single and not have sex for 6 months, and still fill fulfilled because one of my projects are coming to fruition and i love it. i live for it.

ive never questioned 'why i was born'. even when i recently had brain damage i knew id never give up on the work (i got better thankfully).

what kind of projects do you work on? i am curious.

perhaps if you are lucky you can convince your girlfriend to let you go to the other room and do your own thing for large parts of the day.

>>17200316
Classic video games got nothing on life OP. That much is certain. But maybe putting a little money aside each month and starting a collection of them could help you. I know you said you don't have a lot of extra time to spare. But having them for when you do have down time is pretty nice. Plus a classic games collection is an amazing talk piece. Just think about.

>>17200355
I meant the reverse. Life has nothing on the satisfaction of living through the adventure that classics can unfold to be.

>>17200216
>Oh man, and consider that this adult generation has more free-time than any other before it,
Actually the popular word around town is that millenials stand to be the first generation worse off then the previous.

I've also read that in the pre-industrial ages, people only worked like two thirds of the year because of all the religious holidays and shit.

Hell, the current average full time working week in France and many other european countries is fucking 30 hours. In America, fucking 40 can be considered part time.

>>17200355
Not such a bad idea. I have a list of collectibles that I've always wanted. I've been waiting for disposable income that was non-investment worthy. Hell, I've just been trying to get my credit cards paid to $0 and my student loans paid off. I don't know how a lot of people are living.

>>17200382
It's true. Plus add in the time we all spend getting ready for work and commuting to and from work. Yeah we "work" 40 hours per week but I sure as shit don't have to do all of that prep work on saturday mornings.

>>17200352
my daily projects involve financial analysis and policy writing for a bank. I work out how the bank analyzes deals based on how I analyze the deals

In my spare time I work on making more money, doing more drugs, and having sex with more people heh. I work out, stay fit, etc. but I don't view that as a hobby - I view that as part of being alive. But I literally think of ways to make more money - I sell some shit online, I haggle next month's rent with my landlord (for legitimate reasons), I go find coupons for shit I want and save money buying things I already know I need at cheap prices. I cook most of my meals. I make excel spreadsheets about my monthly budget. I've started making spreadsheets about real estate deals and prices in areas I might want to buy when the price is right. I go to shows with my girlfriend. I smoke weed with my buddies.

I literally spend my free time upkeeping my place, upkeeping my body with gym and cooking etc, figuring out ways to save money or make more, fucking my girlfriend, and seeing friends.

Which sounds great and it is... it is... but it's ultimately not satisfying when I feel like a slave to my job and my school debts.

Thanks advice.. I'm even more committed to paying off my school debts ASAP. I think I can do it in 3 years.... then I will focus on a new career. I'll use this career for 3 more years to get out of debt.

Any "projects" I work on in the mean time are gravy if I can just get out of debt and go be a 40 year old man child chasing dreams. Fuck kids.

>>17200265
>>17200382
I think one of the bigger differences is that our generation has always been thought that we could be anything! "just believe" "just go to college!" in school they would warn us that if our parents had oppinions on what we should study, no matter if it's art school, then they were bad parents! advising your kid to study something usefull was considered on the same level as aranged mariages, only like 8 years ago.
with all those possibilities you'd be a loser if you weren't going to become a rockstar actor artist professor!
now we know better.

it's good to realise the amount of people who have ever had a choice in what they'd do to earn their food is neglectible. We are still animals and it's to eat or be eaten, anything beyond that is allready quite impressive!

8 hours sleep
8 hours work
1 hour physical activity (which doesn't happen every day)

So on average, you have about 7 hours a day to do what you want a what you like. Are you living with a woman? Cut that time in half.

Do you have a kid? Cut that time in half again. Oh wait, you have a kid? Now you're probably working more often. Cut your time down even more. Oh wait, now you work more, so your woman wants more of your time when you're not working. Cut the time down again.

Seeing any cause and effect here?

Being single is the only way you can actually have a life worth living long term.

Unless of course, you like copy-paste lifestyles that you pick out of a magazine.

>>17200496
Have you tried not focusing so much on money? Maybe try working part time after you pay off your debt, have enough money to get by and enough time to do your hobbies.

>>17200174
if you spend your weekends on the computer of course it will feel like that. if youre outside on sundays and saturdays doing fun shit you wont feel like that anymore.