I don’t know anyone that is doing well

I don’t know anyone having a good time right now.

This may sound a bit hyperbolic, but everyone seems to be going through hard times - everyone is surviving, not thriving. I don’t know anyone who is doing well. It looks different for different people, but the theme of struggling is consistent.

It could be any number of things, or more likely a combination. I know someone who is living inside the cab of their truck because they moved out of state for a career change and there aren’t any motels that aren’t already being rented - my little brother.

I know someone else whose body is tired and is eager to retire, but the roof needs to be replaced, the central AC is old and could break at any moment, and the property taxes keep increasing every year - my mother.

I know people who had to choose between going into thousands of dollars of debt to save a beloved pet or put their pet down.

I know people who have to choose which bills get paid this month and which don’t, and I know adult children who are the financial custodians of their parents and struggle to manage their expenditures.

I know people that are married, have a household with two full-time incomes, that are scraping to get by, often eating the cheapest, poorest quality food they can.

I go online and watch Tik Tok compilation videos on YouTube of people that can’t afford rent and are facing evictions, or live out of a van, or who have cars repossessed, or are drowning in student loan debt, or credit card debt, or some other form of debt.

I see other groups of working class people panic about not being able to feed their children because of the Government shut down and the pause of SNAP benefits.

I see people forgoing dental or medical care, or refusing ambulances in emergencies.

But that’s just money, what about the emotional toll?

As a ‘Zillennial’ (a late-stage Millennial that has overlap with Gen Z characteristics) it’s hard not to empathize with how jaded and hopeless many young people feel. Sentiments like “what’s the point?” are common amongst them and other generations, and it’s a fair question.

What is the point when everything you aspire towards is always just beyond your reach? At what point do you just give up quietly and check out?

They say that money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy food, shelter, and comfort which are essentially all part of happiness when you are working class. So when all your money can’t buy anything and you never get enough of it, all that’s left is the stress, the fear of over drafts or of your electricity being cut off - all of which takes a massive toll on a person.

If we aren’t careful, we can internalize the struggle as some sort of character flaw.

“Maybe I didn’t work hard enough in school..”

If this goes on long enough it can lead to severe burn out.

“I’m just not good enough. I don’t have any motivation. I don’t want to go to work, but I need this job..”

What can we do about it, if anything?

The answer isn’t a simple one, but if we want to see things improve for the working class, we have to fight back. We need to unionize and demand fair pay and not accept the absurd answer that billionaire CEOs can’t increase wages. They absolutely can, they just don’t want to.

A lot of people will have this conversation and then sigh and say “but, that’ll eat into their profit margins and lead to layoffs”. Right, but that isn’t the only solution, and acting like it is is agreeing to the cop-out these companies are giving.

From the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center: “At the 100 largest low-wage corporations, the average CEO now makes 632 times more than a typical worker. And Americans are fed up.”

Be so for real. There is no justification for this gap. A common argument is that the CEO works harder and is thus “more valuable” than the hourly employee, so they deserve to be compensated more. I agree with that up to a point.

A good leader is one who leads from the front, not from above. A good leader of any organization doesn’t see him or herself as being more important than who they are leading. The best CEOs are the ones who take pay cuts or offer assistance to employees because they care about the human being behind the job title.

It’s not a big ask to be a decent person who pays their people fairly, but these fat-cat CEOs will make you believe so. Real change requires the courage to imagine a better, more equitable and more sustainable future.

Under current conditions, therapy helps but is a bandaid, not a solution.

How many stupid sponsored videos for Better Help have you seen on YouTube? How many people have suggested you seek counseling for venting how stressed you are about the state of the world - because let’s be real, there’s A LOT of stuff I haven’t mentioned: climate crisis, food shortages, changing and less stable job market, environmental havoc caused by AI data centers, the rise of authoritarianism across the globe, diminishing marriage and birth rates… do you want me to go on?

Therapy is not a solution. Breathing techniques and “focusing on what you can control” are stupid suggestions to people with real, immediate problems. You can’t meditate yourself out of financial hardship. You can’t journal your way out of poverty. You can’t take mental health walks anywhere in the world that escapes the ramifications of the things I’ve mentioned above.

Therapy at best, helps you cope. It’s your bandaid. Any medication you are given is also your bandaid, given to you by well meaning people who are genuinely trying to help.

But when the picture is this fucked, you have to break the frames and step out. That’s the only way.

Final Thoughts

It’s beneficial to those with power that we believe everything is bleak and hopeless and there isn’t anything we can do. You cannot do that. We all need each other. We need to show up for ourselves and for each other, and that is HARD.

When you are struggling - don’t try to immediately cheer yourself up. Sit with it, feel it out. Let it be what it is. Validate the feeling. Also, don’t beat yourself up. You aren’t broken. You aren’t a failure. You aren’t doing life wrong.

Just because I don’t know anyone that is thriving doesn’t mean none of us are capable of doing so. Remember that hope is an act of rebellion, and for that matter so is the courage to keep going.