The soft life: why millennials are quitting the rat race

Completely ridiculous that they quoted Kim Kardashian...

The soft life approach is not without its critics. In 2022, Kim Kardashian infamously claimed that women need to “get your fucking ass up and work” as “it seems like nobody wants to work these days”. She was forced to apologise – after it was pointed out that coming from a rich, already-famous family in LA would have its advantages in the job market.

But I never liked how this movement picked up the name "lazy girl job". Bros can be lazy too...

I could have pulled in 6 figures after the Navy, but it would have been a shitty job that I fucking hated.

So I went back to school, got a degree that interests me, did that for a few years, then got a cushy decently paid office job that didn't care what my degree was about.

I'm not maximizing my income, but I also essentially get UBI because I'm a disabled vet.

I'm basically living the progressive dream. And if everyone got the stuff I did, we'd be happier and more productive as a society. Along with a shit ton less crime, because people have something to lose.

Our current hyper capitalist society only works for people like Kim Kardashian that start out wealthy and connected, and those idiots constantly insist the only reason they're wealthy is they work harder. I was doing manual labor before I was a teenager. There's no way in hell Kim has worked a single day harder then I did as a child, but she legitimately believes she busts her ass, all the wealthy elites do.

Because they're surrounded by people they pay to tell them what they want to hear, and everyone else is a "hater".

My biggest regret in life was working hard for an employer who didn't care for me. I now work in public sector and know that I am making the world a better place, and that pleases me. I got out of the rat race and now have some level of comfort.

Why run if there's no more a carrot dangling from the string?

I think millennials and zoomer are just being open and honest about things that always happened. We love labels and with the Internet talks with other like-minded people. There have always been people who worked 9 to 5 at a job and prioritized stability over money. We are being open and bragging about it. We just want to break the hustle culture that was always a loud subset

For example my dad a peak boomer worked at the same company for his whole career and turned down "promotions" that gave a manager title with little more money. They have always been there

Companies expect you to slog your guts out for the false promise of a reward. But being a hard worker, at least in my environment, just means you get the hardest work.

I've had the biggest pay rises by changing job. There's no reason to be ambitious and stay loyal to a company that will run you ragged and offer very little in return.

I don't think that people voluntarily give up, I believe that they are more burnt out etc than ever

Once again this X-er is cheering for how aware Millennials and Zoomers seem to be compared to how oblivious I was through my first several decades. Trying to figure out a (non-catastrophic) way out of the rat race myself.

Getting laid off from my tech job was both the scariest and most freeing moment in my life. It's been over a year now and I've transitioned into doing just a few hours of contract work.

It's really all about defining what "success" means. And "Ambition". I've always looked at "ambition" as a negative trait, at least among my peers in the workplace. Someone who is ambitious will not hesitate to step on me if it gets them further up the ladder. But someone who is happy in the role they have, and doesn't always have their focus on the next thing, will be a much better team player.

That doesn't mean having no goals whatsoever, or never learning anything new. But it does mean establishing your own goals, that bring you your own fulfillment. And if they don't coincide with what your boss wants, that doesn't make you a bad person, it might just make the job a bad fit.

Just make sure to save enough for retirement as well as bare minimum bills. No need to hand millions in retirement but something will go a long way.

The good thing about this plague of pieces that begin with “<insert generation> are <insert lifestyle> “ is that you immediately know they are not serious

People should forget that millennials are born in the rat race. It changes the whole perception of it. It makes it easier to quit it as they never experienced something else.

We are at a systemic change of civilization. We passed the edge and can't go back. Whatever people can say, we are in a run to something new. Whatever people will do to stop the change, it will fail. These type of change aren't linear either and last for a certain amount of time.

Millennials are at the front of this as the first gen to enter the change followed by the gen Z.

https://youtu.be/VsVcSHGcmUQ?si=UspEHLrt53QdArwh

Bit late to the Slacker party there millennials. But ya, keep believing everything that happened to you has happened for the first time I’m in history.