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The problem is that the one thing I want to do that I'm not already doing is "not work"
I don't have any grand plans to take up new hobbies or anything in my retirement (though I'm sure I'll continue collecting hobbies just as I always have) I just want to be able to do them on my own schedule
That was my focus too, finding a way to have more time to myself on my own terms.
I usually suggest teaching English abroad if you're a native speaker.
You could chant primary colors at kindergarteners online line for a maximum of 20 hours per week, or in person for a maximum of 10 hours per week and clear $400 easy.
You could also teach 20 hours a week for 6 months and then live off the savings for years.
That's minimum wage 400 bucks a week, we'll say you spent $400 for monthly expenses wherever you are, tje other 3 weeks are all your necessary expenses for 3 months without working, or one month partying.
Want to boost your pay? Take an internationally accredited tefl course online for a couple days, pdf tests, that costs 40 bucks and you'll instantly be paid more than the minimum wage($20 an hour's the usual minimum) they pay teachers at any job you apply for.
If having your own time is really the most important thing to you, as it is to me, the process is very simple, especially for native English speakers.
You don't need to do it the rest of your life either.
Work part-time for a few months and then take a year off to figure out If you're doing what you want to be doing. At least you won't be wasting time and money figuring it out.
Do you want to keep vacationing? Then you have already done it and have experience with that.
The next year you vacation it'll be even cheaper and easier than it was the first time.
Do you want to pursue a hobby professionally? You have time to set that up. Or you can pursue the hobby for fun, indefinitely.
That may work for you, and if it does I'm happy for you, but for me, as much as I want more time for myself and my hobbies, one thing I want even more is to not ever spend any amount of time doing anything even remotely like that.
I also have no real interest in working abroad even if I didn't think that job sounded horrible. A week or two of vacation, sure, but by the end of week 2, I'm ready to go home, and that's really the point here, I want to be able to just stay home, and only leave when it's to do something I want to do.
So youre sure you don't like the situation you're in, but equally sure you don't want to leave that situation.
You have a lot of company.
Teaching is not the only option, and no, that's not what I do.
It doesn't sound like you're really looking for solutions yet.
He doesn't want to leave that situation for a nightmare shitshow of a downgraded situation.
He should try something easier that fixes his problems instead.
It's surprisingly pretty rare when someone wants that either.
Because your suggestions are all completely deluded.
They're not better. For pretty much anyone.
Talking to them doesn’t help. I’m a German teacher for new immigrants and I explained how poorly people adjust to a new country when all they wanted was something different, and they condescended to me about not letting my personal experience (with scores of students) color my opinion 🤦
I just hope anyone who’s interested based on what they’re saying adequately prepares themselves. I’m personally a proponent of freer global migration and language teaching, but it’s laughable to think that it’s general advice for people who don’t like their current situation.
I'm all for it if that's what you want to do.
But "you're a hypocritical idiot for not saving all the money from a minimum wage job and finding a dirt poor country to live in or going across the world for some random job most people don't want to do" is nonsense.
I've helped a lot of people stop working, so you're definitely incorrect on both counts.
Most commenters here are responding to their fears or anxieties of being a teacher specifically, which is one of the simplest and quickest solutions (among many) to their stated goals.
If your goals are to minimize work to maximize your own time, becoming an English teacher is a very simple and fast way to achieve those goals.
That is practicality; the opposite of delusion.
There are many other ways to work less and have more free time that you and the others are too afraid to investigate, let alone seriously attempt.
This is very common anxiety, and an example of your delusion you're projecting.
My suggestions, that you have not heard or considered, work when actually attempted.
Maximizing your own time and minimizing the amount of work you have to do is a very simple goal to realize by various methods.
It's just scary for you because If those are your goals and you succeed in achieving them so quickly, it means that you've been wasting your life complaining about something you could have changed at any time because you were too afraid to be sincere and ask for help.
Often, it turns out that maximizing your own time and minimizing work are not your values and goals and you don't know yourself as well as you thought you did, which also frightens people.
Several of those programs are scammy. I know people who’ve been screwed by their company in South Korea, Ethiopia, and the Philippines. I’m glad it worked for you, and it’s a worthwhile thing to try if it calls to you, but it’s a recipe for culture shock and depression if someone doesn’t fully understand and want that experience.
I’m an American living in Germany, and I teach German classes to new immigrants, so I see a lot of people who wanted something different, but didn’t specifically want Germany. It’s much more difficult for them to adjust to a new place than for people who specifically seek Germany out.
I also personally think teaching children is too important to leave to people who are untrained, even if they’re subject matter experts, but I may be biased as it’s my career. I definitely wouldn’t teach kindergarten, because I (like most people) don’t have the patience.
As much as literally any profession is scammy, I'll agree that teaching can also be scammy.
I'm glad it worked for you, but like I said, there are many other avenues.
Teaching abroad is not a recipe for culture shock and depression.
That's like saying learning to swim is a recipe for drowning.
All these people complaining about their jobs and how they can't survive their life and don't want to do anything?
They're already pretty depressed.
That's fine if you don't have patience, lots of people do.
People assume that if something can't help everybody then it can't help anybody. And that is about as wrong as it gets.
Do you want to heal people? Go into health services. Do you want to make video games? Go into programming or design. Feel like working with your hands? Carpentry.
The carpenter isn't going to want to make video games, and the programmer doesn't want to be a doctor. They found their own solutions. Not everybody has to be a teacher.
If your goals are simply to maximize your own time, there are many effective ways to do that quickly.
Teaching abroad without proper preparation and understanding of what you’re signing up for is a recipe for culture shock and depression.
Just like going swimming without proper preparation ( swimming lessons and adequate aerobic fitness) is a recipe for drowning.
Lots of people have the patience for kindergartners, but that’s only because there are eight billion people. Telling everyone who’s depressed to go to a new place where they know no one and have to deal with kindergartners and employers who may or may not fulfill the accommodation or pay promises they made while not having a good working knowledge of the local culture or language is irresponsible.
It sounds like you had a bad experience, but try not to project that on to others.
Nobody suggested teaching or swimming without proper preparation and adequate aerobic fitness. I understand how changing your argument makes it easier to argue against yourself.
Kind of like how in your subsequent paragraph you pretend things were sad that nobody has said in the entire thread except for you.
You don't have to teach kindergarteners if you don't want to. It sounds like it you might want to re-examine your choices.
Making up your own arguments and then throwing a tantrum about your own bad ideas is not very convincing.
If your goal is to maximize your time and minimize your work, there are lots of easy ways to do that.
Teaching is one of them.
You seem stuck on teaching, probably because of your profession, but it's not the only road and you shouldn't force it on others.
You prefer to minimize your own time.
I help people maximize their time and minimize their work.
Youre naturally defensive, try to recognize that.
lol
You were funny. Neurotic like.