Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
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Material possessions and money give me anxiety. There was a time in my life in which I didn’t really have much and I’m not saying I was necessarily happy but I was less anxious for sure. Now I have a car and disposable income and whatnot and suddenly I feel more trapped. Like, there is much more pressure to maintain this certain image that you have build, more pressure to keep performing in this society. And at the same time it feels whiny to complain about this because it could be so much worse. Hell, a couple year back I was in a much worse place. But at least I felt like I had the freedom to do things, paradoxically.
Basically, I feel like I have been pushed into some sort of role in society in which I have to work to maintain, in my eyes, useless things while the things I actually do value I have no time for. I spend a big amount of time each week at a place I don’t want to be in order to pay for things I don’t want or things I find ridiculously expensive all the while my energy is drained to the point I cannot do something else.
Just rambling, I guess.
A general strike today. Down with capitalism.
Life was really simple when I was homeless… but my back loves my mattress and not carrying everything I own all the time.
I’m in a similar boat. I ended up getting rid of my car and a bunch of other expenses that were not bringing me joy and were a drain on me. As a result, I’ve been able to save a lot as a bulwark against the need to constantly perform. It doesn’t help though, because I still need to go to a place I don’t want to be for too many hours per day. It’s not like I could survive indefinitely if I stop working.