Life is what you make of it. There’s no meaning, no purpose. You have to make your own. That takes effort, but it can be rewarding.

There’s no meaning to life. It’s a scam of an idea that we all fall prey to. Instead, think of it as just creating new meaning to it every single day depending on what you think and do. It’s a liberating feeling, to be honest. Because now you don’t have to stress yourself out to figure out some grand meaning [that doesn’t exist] and inevitably failing and being depressed over that.

I am 26 and have been in the workforce for a few years.

In short, is there something I’m missing here, or is work-eat-sleep-repeat all there is until I retire?

Yes, except for the fact that you and I will not be able to retire.

It sounds like you’re experiencing anhedonia, which is strongly associated with depression. Ultimately life is cyclical, day to day, week to week, etc, but there should be frequent periods of happiness sprinkled in there, where you spend time doing things you like with people you like. If you can’t find anything like that, maybe talk to a therapist.

In short, is there something I’m missing here, or is work-eat-sleep-repeat all there is until I retire?

You might die before then. I definitely saw “bottlenecks” in my mid-20s and late-40s where friends dropped like flies and some never got back up again.

Anyway, it sounds like you are having a crisis - people talk about the mid-life crisis but they can happen at any age but often a turning point:

• Late teens - wait! I have to grow up and get serious?
• End of Uni - wait! I have to get a job and all that other adult nonsense?
• 30 - wait! I should really be married and having kids by now.
• 40 - wait! My biological clock is ticking, I haven’t been promoted like I thought I would and my body is starting to creak.
• 50 - well that didn’t turn out how I wanted but there’s still time.
• 60 - where did my life go? Ah well, retirement is looming, I can’t wait for all that free time.
• 70 - death is looming, where did all that free time go?

Unfortunately, the meaning of life is what you make of it, so start managing your expectations.and don’t measure your happiness against other people’s - they’re probably less happy than they appear.

I can’t claim to have any clear answers but find.out what you love doing and build your life around doing more of that. Don’t let your worklife eat into your personal time. Stop caring what people think about you, but that’s not a license to be a dick. Make the world a better place for having you in it. If you need help, ask. Eat well, don’t smoke, drink in moderation and wear sunblock - these things will help your later life be more worthwhile.

Yes, there is more.

You sound like you are experiencing burnout and as a result anhedonia and depression.

Burnout is a very real clinical condition caused by the demands you are operating under being dysfunctional in some way. It is very real and can lead to a dangerous depression.

Anhedonia is the loss of enjoyment in things you previously enjoyed. For example, when I had anhedonia video games because uninteresting, boring even, and the effort required to play was too much and there was no reward to playing.

You need to deal with this before it escalates into full blown depression and burnout. It can take much longer to fix than it will take to stop now, so get started ASAP. Starting an antidepressant may be helpful, it may not, but it is just one tool and I personally would avoid it having done it before.

The other steps for managing burnout are largely about changing the demands on you, the level of connection to other people, and what you do to relax. Exercise is a really helpful tool and honestly is what makes me resilient against another bout of burnout now.

Good luck

Every day I’m not working I feel tired constantly, regardless of amount of sleep.

It may be worth to check this with a doctor. What you describe may be sleep apnea. It is less common in young people but is better to check.

Also I am just thrilled that so many here have encouraged you to view your awareness of just how shitty the system is as a mental illness, as a failure on your part to be correctly integrated into society. There is nothing wrong with you. What is wrong is the system itself.

Make sure that you’re not depressed, this sounds like it. But it doesn’t have to be a mental thing.

Get your bloodwork done at a doctor (tell them you’re constantly tired / don’t have energy), that’s the first check. If that checks out then you might be getting enough sleep, but it’s shitty quality.

For example despite 8+ hours a night I was feeling like crap most of the day. Well, my nose closed in the night and I couldn’t breathe properly, which lead to awful sleep (I just had an operation for it, it has already gotten better but is still healing off). If you can breathe well through your nose, maybe do a sleep study to check if you actually get restful sleep.

If all of that checks out too, then you might have to do lifestyle changes. More fresh air, sun, workouts, eating better, but you know the drill already.

I’m also like you at times, and have been for a long time, but it does get better. One thing that’s a bit crappy though is if you’re in the US then vacation time is very limited (here in EU countries we don’t have that problem as much). But really first check your health, you might confuse something being wrong with your body with a mental problem.

Just sounds like Vitamin D deficit, or something else related to not getting proper rest from sleep. This is not typical of someone your age.

Funny enough, I’m only saying this because I hate how fast some general practitioners are at diagnosing it, so the irony isn’t lost on me. But you’re actually stating the issues, and not just saying “I’m a programmer/factory worker” which is all it takes with them and why I despise it.

Get a blood test done if you want to make sure. Don’t just listen to the internet.

That’s why we need to strive toward working less hours in general. Full time hours take up most of your waking hours when you factor in prep time, commute etc

What you do with your free time can make a world of difference of course but the math just doesn’t work out when you get home and have like 4 hours to do everything you need to do before you have to go to sleep.

You’re experiencing burnout. Rest up enough to improve your mental state, not finding joy in previous hobbies is a telltale sign. Try something that requires less critical focal or lets you take reprieve from your day to day schedule; vegging out, going for a walk, casual talk with friends, get counseling if you feel you need it, etc. The system will bleed everyone dry and leave them to rot if you let it. Take that time back and invest it in yourself.

We live in a sick society, so don’t let anyone tell you you’re the one who’s ill because the full time cycle of work-eat-sleep wears you down. You’d have to be sick to enjoy this system.

The system that requires you and I toil away day by day is temporary. One day (maybe not soon) we won’t have to work our lives away, either because we’ll need to survive or because the collective consciousness will finally realize that we’re living post-scarcity.

Either way, that’s what I look forward to and in the mean time I just do what I can to make sure I’m not completely miserable.

As others have said. If you feel like shit all day no matter how much you sleep then its most likely a diet issue. It’s crazy how normalized completely shit diets are. Its not going to be easy to fix. You’re going to have to do a lot of experimentation and research to see what works for you. I never really had a terrible diet and I felt okay most days. Never thought much of it but once I started to exercise more and looked into sports science on diets I realized how bad my diet actually was. After changing it and getting proper nutrition I was pretty shocked at how much better I felt. I was awake and alert all day and got great sleep. Definitely get a blood test or something. I also recommend doing some research on getting quality sleep. If you’re getting a lot of sleep but its shit quality then it doesnt mean a whole lot. Consistent sleep schedule, eating at the right times, and managing the light you take in during the day can make a huge difference.

I was a chef for over a decade and worked in Michelin kitchens where I gave myself up for next to nothing. When I made it to two stars, I began vomiting repeatedly every shift, working at a loss of $100 dollars a day. Eventually, I broke down and tried to kill myself by the city river, but regrettably I failed.

If you live in America, all I can say is that if you are a man and you don’t work, and you are alone and have no one to support you, you will eventually be killed. If you aren’t killed on the street, you’re killed in lock up because it’s illegal to exist here without employment. Mental facilities funnel into jails where the bodies pass daily. At my city’s coroner’s, there are 400+ deaths unaccounted for, 100+ murders per year. I was sent there as a warning in California’s HAM program. I was forced to watch people die and watch their autopsies as well as tour the whole facility, examining all the corpses. All the corpses whose genitals have catheters in them are people who died with no one to claim them, their organs are placed in hefty bags which are then sewed haphazardly back into their torso. The working class bodies are all Mexican, all under 60.

When I was homeless, on two occasions people tried to murder me and they only stopped because they thought I was dead. My medical debt in my twenties reached over ten million from all the hospital stays. I’ve learned that there are fates WAY worse than death, and you should always have the materials for an exit bag or an LD of insulin. In our society, if you are an extremely poor man, your agency amounts to, “will I continue to suffer another day? Or will I do what everyone wants and liquidate myself.”

The reason I say all this is, when you don’t want to work, remember it’s not just money you lose but also the good will of others, including family members. The people you respect most put clown makeup on every day and freak out when you don’t. I know this because I made a small fortune on the gamespot/and squeezes and my fortunes literally changed overnight. The money literally solved all my problems and I’m left disgusted. It also showed me how hard I was working for so little. I know now I’d rather die fighting breathlessly, as I always have, fighting for myself and my life. My life in the street was FAR more meaningful than the ones I’ve lived according to cowardice, constantly learning to cope with cowardice. The bottom line: make sure you know you’re ready to leave the beaten path before you do because I promise you, life outside the social contract is indeed nasty, brutal and short.