America is only good to you if you have a solid career.

Temprano26 · Post by **Temprano26** » February 4th, 2014, 3:58 pm

Or if you were born with deep pockets of cash but that is only a privileged few of us.

A little over a year ago, I started going to class for massage therapy and I completed that in December, only having clinic hours and the state test to get my massage license. The past two weekends I have had clients rebooking because I am really good at using my elbow to work out knots in their backs.
My strong hands have made me popular among clientele and that is because I have found a good career path. In that regard I have had more opportunities than quite a lot of people out there who are still struggling to make something of their lives.

Part of being successful is realizing that you are luckier than others and not just smarter and more talented. There are a lot of smart, talented, hard-working people in Haiti that can't move up the economic ladder because they have lesser resources than we do. My problem with Americans is they become successful and it makes them smug assholes. Before I started going to school for massage therapy, I could not get a job even working in fast food. I sent out so many online applications and the only phone calls I got were from scam artists. Even when I talked to employers face to face, they just said they don't hire anyone without experience not giving a shit that we can't get experience if we don't get hired. I worked at Quizno's and they fired me after three days because the manager was angry about business being too slow. That didn't get to me as much as the fact I couldn't rebound from it because I can't use three days at Quizno's on a damn job application. But of course the people that have good careers were always judging me as some unmotivated freeloader that expects everything to be handed to me which is the complete opposite of reality. Now that I am on the way to a good career in massage therapy I can prove to those smug assholes how hard I can work but I damn sure won't become like them.

momopi · Post by **momopi** » February 4th, 2014, 5:34 pm

For those who might be interested in a career in the oil/gas sector:
http://www.oilcareers.com/worldwide/

Post by **Winston** » February 4th, 2014, 5:47 pm

Even if you have a solid career, what's the motivation? What's there to make you tick or fuel your fire? The super isolation, lonely, unfriendly environment doesn't energize you enough to make you become a workaholic. So where do you get the motivation and drive? I don't get it.

A soul draining environment doesn't motivate me to get up and have a career everyday. It slowly eats away at you and makes you deflated, lazy and unmotivated.

But maybe it's just me. I feed off of romance, passion and flirtation. Yet I have no way to get those things in America. Without that, I'm not motivated or energized to get up and work hard. It feels meaningless or pointless to work in an environment you aren't happy with or fit in with. If you don't fit in, there's no way you can be in a good mood 24/7.

America has no solution for my dilemma. Only by looking outside the matrix do you find one.

Maybe you should rephrase it to: "America is only good if all you care about is having a career and don't need anything else to be happy."

Ghost · Post by **Ghost** » February 4th, 2014, 6:37 pm

Hero · Post by **Hero** » February 4th, 2014, 7:12 pm

Winston wrote:Even if you have a solid career, what's the motivation? What's there to make you tick or fuel your fire?

I feed off of romance, passion and flirtation. Yet I have no way to get those things in America. Without that, I'm not motivated or energized to get up and work hard.

I feel exactly the same way. I'd be real motivated if my reward was the opportunity to date beautiful young women. But even guys who make double my salary end up with fat, lazy, tattooed old whores. What the hell are these guys working so hard for?

magnum · Post by **magnum** » February 4th, 2014, 7:43 pm

If the work isn't rich to the man, the man can not become rich from the work.

You can work all your life, save and endure, but if you've hated 90% of the life you've lived just to see a bank account number go up.....your not rich, your simply envied by people who for some reason aspire to be like you, on top of the world with nothing to show for.

If your rich, because you love the work, and the rippling effect it has on the people around you, you'll not only have gained richness of finance but also life, and the people around you will see this.

A heartless selfish billionaire will only attract his like, a heartfelt billionaire will also attract his like.

Will power choice and "I can" means nothing if the right attitude isn't behind it.

To become and conquer and master is something a man of every faith, country and religion can get behind.

Finance is only a part of a equally important recipe.

With that said....I'm probably much older then you are, and I feel exactly where your coming from, I've even thought about begging for money so I can move to where the work is.

Besides, do you really want to handle fat people who are dead not only on the outside but inside, attempting to heal them when most of what ails them is self inflicted?

Temprano26 · Post by **Temprano26** » February 4th, 2014, 7:47 pm

It also depends on your career, Winston. We do not have to work at desk jobs sitting at screens all day. We can find something that gives us a sense of self-worth. I love women but they cannot define my self-worth.

Temprano26 · Post by **Temprano26** » February 4th, 2014, 8:05 pm

And if your career pays well enough you can save money to travel to other countries. I have no intention of living my life in America.

zboy1 · Post by **zboy1** » February 4th, 2014, 9:20 pm

Why this millennial quit his 6-figure job and gave away most of his possessions

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-mille ... 35000.html

tre · Post by **tre** » February 4th, 2014, 10:41 pm

Ghost wrote:And even then it's not that great. The career becomes your life. You waste money on consumerist pleasures to cope. You're miserable because you're doing pointless work and you know it.

So really, unless you're rich, American society is not good to live in.

Well said...this is my experience. Most well-paid work IS pointless. It doesn't make the world a better place or make anyone happy. You are making someone else rich...that's about it.

The drive to work hard and make money is so that you can save money so that you don't have to work hard to make money anymore...lol. It's putting your present on the back burner so that you can have some kind of pleasant future.

The_Adventurer · Post by **The_Adventurer** » February 5th, 2014, 3:25 am

Winston wrote:Even if you have a solid career, what's the motivation? What's there to make you tick or fuel your fire? The super isolation, lonely, unfriendly environment doesn't energize you enough to make you become a workaholic. So where do you get the motivation and drive? I don't get it.

A soul draining environment doesn't motivate me to get up and have a career everyday. It slowly eats away at you and makes you deflated, lazy and unmotivated.

But maybe it's just me. I feed off of romance, passion and flirtation. Yet I have no way to get those things in America. Without that, I'm not motivated or energized to get up and work hard. It feels meaningless or pointless to work in an environment you aren't happy with or fit in with. If you don't fit in, there's no way you can be in a good mood 24/7.

America has no solution for my dilemma. Only by looking outside the matrix do you find one.

Maybe you should rephrase it to: "America is only good if all you care about is having a career and don't need anything else to be happy."

But I'm willing to bet you're still in America aren't you?

If the reward for that work is to get out, see other countries and find a new life, I would be pretty motivated. In fact, that's what made me work my ASS off to get out of my situation before.

magnum · Post by **magnum** » February 5th, 2014, 4:40 am

What Adventurer said, I'm motivated to get the hell out, almost to the point of donating blood.

I rather be on a African battle field then in this country, at least then I'd be helping people.

well-informed · Post by **well-informed** » February 5th, 2014, 10:00 am

You live to work, never really having lived.

aozora13 · Post by **aozora13** » February 5th, 2014, 10:19 am

magnum wrote:What Adventurer said, I'm motivated to get the hell out, almost to the point of donating blood.

I rather be on a African battle field then in this country, at least then I'd be helping people.

Well I am not sure being a mercenary is good per se but it is something that you are actually doing instead of just being a normal drone. This is the same even in technology fields. You can make a app (developing) or support (admin/architect) but still I see that even with a better job, able to live with family to maximize my earning and realizing that I am saving some money even though I feel what I do does not really help people and it is just enriching the pockets of the company I work for and just squeezing use for a little extra output.

Magnum, are you still try to go to China or no?

momopi · Post by **momopi** » February 5th, 2014, 10:47 am

Your career can be a path to becoming an expat (or traveling).