My jobs have been of the draining and generally unfulfilling sort. There have been many times when pursuing passions has become unrealistic from the sheer exhaustion of them combined with having to deal with life duties in all the "free" time. I should be clear that I'm not talking about "draining" in the sense of "oh, it is such a bore, my vitality feels drained" kind of thing. I'm talking physically (and often mentally) exhausting, even body-breaking. And by "life duties", I'm talking putting basic food on the table, a basic roof overhead, and attending to the needs of loved ones. Not as in "oh, I've got to run Biffie over to soccer/"playdate"/attend to fluffy personal indulgences, btw. I give no thought to impressing anyone with possessions. Always thought it stupid, that "keeping up with the Joneses" s***. As we get older? I'm already there. Opportunity does not spring from chronology. In fact, it can go quite the opposite way. Not going to go into that one, it's too much salt atm.

I'm not saying these things to be snarky. Really, I'm not. I do find it frustrating that "status-seeking over-consumer" gets thrown out there as a given. Likewise, the "if you can dream it you can be it!" mentality is full of assumptions. (I'm not saying you're saying that here, just that it seems to be part of the general conversation). People often have advantages that they take so for granted that they do not perceive their advantage.

The problem comes in extrapolation. I understand there is validity in "dream and pursue" as encouragement toward positivity. It still takes a f***** lot of luck to have that turn the world into your oyster, where you determine your own odds and/or live fulfilled forevermore. Even if 100% of people subscribed to this with 100% enthusiasm and drive, 100% of people would not have that result. This is where the falseness of this mantra lies. The success of the few rides on the backs of those not so lucky far more often than not. So there is also a certain cruelty to promulgating the mantra, because it suggests that if one doesn't arrive, one just hasn't "tried hard enough", when in fact it is a mathematical and economic impossibility, even not taking into account people's personal limitations.

Granted, this predominantly applies to work/economic endeavors, but people are not always as free as we'd like to think to pursue even personal passions or goals. A lot more, yes, but still not an absolute.

Alright, seriously, I need to get out of here. There's a mountain of crap I've got to deal with that the clock is not going to stop ticking on. Damn.