even when you start your own business, that won't alleviate the mental pressure. You may enjoy your job, but you will find the responsibility and tension falling on your shoulders. If your business has a problem at 12:00 a.m. in the morning, you'll be worried sick. If you work for someone else, you don't REALLY care if it burns down, afterall, you're life is not invested in it. I was the biggest advocate of starting your own business a few years ago. But i'll be brutally honest: it is fcking hard. Yes, you may make a sh*t load of money, but do you really need to have a bmw or a mansion? I'm so caught up. I'm 28 and I want my next car to be a Maserati or Ferrari. I'll probably get there in 2 years, but at what expense? i'm so fckn stressed. I can't take a vacation, i don't have time.
There is no easy solution imho. Its a part of our culture. May sound nuts but try moving somewhere, Europe, parts of Asia, Latin America. Work culture is different there, people have more time to relax and the mental pressure of being competitive is not as much there (though, with globalization, things are changing).
The problem here i see is that everyone is so damn competitive (myself included
). Not just with like businesses, but within their society. For example, if my best friend, who is a doctor, buys a house, i want to buy a house. If he buys a bemer, i buy one. Not that I compare myself to him, but that its a sign of success, and I want to be a part of the successful camp.
No one looks at the guy who may be the nicest guy on the planet and say, "there goes a good guy" when he's driving a corolla. Thats the sad fact of life. Girlfriends/wives, even male friends, EVERYONE likes hanging around successful people. And the measure of success in this country is what? $$$.
Its not the $$$ thats the problem i think, its the thought process involved in making that money, and the fact that you have to invariably work your a55 off. sorry for ranting, but i feel the same way you do, and I own my own buisness. I make a lot of money, and am still complaining, so there is proof that money is not everything.
And then, once you make it, and you have a lot of money, the vultures set in. Everyone is trying to sell your business something, everyone wants you to invest in some sh*t. Its hard to forget about money for 1 fcking day.