"There's no difference between the pessimist who says, 'Oh, it's hopeless so don't bother doing anything,' and an optimist who says, 'Don't bother doing anything, it's going to turn out fine anyway.' Either way, nothing happens."
-Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia
"Named must your fear be before banish it you can."
-Yoda, from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Fear itself is quite fear-inducing.
Most intelligent people in the world dress it up as something else: optimistic denial.
Most who avoid quitting their jobs entertain the thought their course will improve with time or increases in income.
This seems valid and is a tempting hallucination when a job is boring or uninspiring instead of pure hell.
Pure hell forces action, but anything less can be endured with enough clever rationalization.
Do you really think it will improve or is it wishful thinking and an excuse for inaction?
If you were confident in improvement, would you really be questioning things so? Generally not.
This is fear of the unknown disguised as optimism.
Are you better off than you were a year ago, one month ago, or one week ago?
If not, things will not improve by themselves.
If you are kidding yourself, it is time to stop and plan for a jump.
Barring any James Dean ending, your life is going to be LONG.
Working 8 hours a day for your working lifetime of 40-50 years is an incredibly long amount time if the rescue doesn't come. About 500 months of solid work.
How many do you have to go?
It's probably time to cut your losses :)
Adapted from "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Timothy Ferriss
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