Woman who 'forces' herself to work to avoid homelessness says life shouldn't be a 'full-time rat race'

Homelessness has been a growing issue all over the world due to various reasons, such as the economic decline and the soaring prices of accommodations. In these days of hardship, we often feel overworked and underpaid. Some people continue to work in uncomfortable and stressful situations just to keep a roof over their heads and make enough money to feed themselves and their families. u/PrincessPeach1229 opened an interesting discussion on Reddit that revolves around this topic.

"Is anyone else literally forcing themselves to get to work since the alternative is homelessness?" the woman captioned her post. "Sometimes I feel like this can't be healthy. Internally, I coach myself to stay at my desk and not run out with some excuse or quit. The mental anguish," the post began. "Thinking about having to get through the entire week, forcing myself to be at this place for 8 hours straight every day," she added. 

The woman admits that she does enjoy her work to an extent and does not expect to get money for doing anything at all. Moreover, she does not want to work 8 hours and 5 days a week, especially during the main part of their day. For them, 6 hours work day is more feasible. It will give her time to cook dinner, clean the house and enough time for herself. But it's not possible to work part-time hours. As she writes, "It's the full-time rat race that's killing me."

"Having every minute accounted for before and after work to get everything I need done. Working out. Showering. Prepping lunch. Cooking a fresh and healthy dinner. Getting a decent amount of sleep. Where do I fit in what I want to do?" The woman further shared her frustration and said that she is so exhausted on Friday nights from the week that she is unable to do anything. On Sunday, she does her housework, such as running errands, performing chores and yard work and most importantly, preparing themselves for the upcoming week.

The Reddit post concludes with the woman announcing how she only has Saturdays for herself and that is the day when she hopes she does not have to attend invitations like baby showers, birthdays and weddings. "My life revolves around work and I can't handle this for the next 30 years." Fellow Redditors couldn't help but drop in to express their frustrations at their respective jobs and how capitalism has been the real culprit behind the hustle culture.

u/LumpyBranch wrote, "Last Friday, I was about an hour into my work day when I got a call from the sheriff's dept saying my camper had been broken into and I needed to come into the office immediately since there were firearms missing. I was legitimately relieved to be able to take off work early because getting robbed was better than one more day at work. That ain't right." u/Forest_wanderer13 shared, "Same here. Two jobs. It's the only way to do it right now. Can't buy a house. The landlord just raised rent quite a bit due to the property tax rise. My husband and I both usually are pretty upbeat, but we both have fallen into a bit of depression the past couple of months. I hear you."

u/Rakadaka8331 remarked, "Yup! Often pass the homeless begging and wonder how many paychecks I would have to miss to be them. I can't do it for another 20 years. I am figuring out how to semi-retire and then just do whatever after 40. The retirement light at the end of the tunnel helps get me there every day. It took about 2 years of financial education to start a plan to be out of work." u/BlueCollarRevolt humored, "Umm... yeah, you're describing everyone. Well, every member of the working class. Welcome to capitalism, my friend."

u/lostpanda85 added, "Yup. Every single day. And I even work for a great company where I'm treated like a human - I still get this gnawing feeling like I'm wasting my life and I constantly ask myself how my parents did this for 30-40 years. It's crushing and I hate it. I just want to chill and enjoy my life, not enrich some asshat that I'll never meet."