# Feeling Pushed by Society **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 22, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488 "2015-10-22T22:27:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/1 "2015-10-22T22:27:59Z")
Driving, working, everything. Does anyone else feel like society moves faster than one can keep up? What should one do? Arrrg… another reason why I can’t fit in with the “flow”. Early 40s… ready to go to mars! ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/2 "2015-10-22T23:10:04Z")
And I will join you on that Mars trip. Just had my 4th layoff in 8 years. Layoff-- not fired. Again. My boss too. So I search the job search engines all day and logon to the Dope, what, 17 times a day? My purpose is clearly to waste space. Being the first to die on another planet is inspiration enough for me to leave. (I’m in my 40s too.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/3 "2015-10-23T01:01:52Z")
I’ve been feeling that way for about 20-30 years now. At a certain point I decided to let society proceed at its own breakneck pace. Yes, there is very much a push-push-push to do, excel, consume… and the current job market isn’t helping because it’s very much a Red Queen’s Race. I’m trying to move to a more minimalist lifestyle, but it can be hard. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/4 "2015-10-23T01:11:48Z")
Repeat after me, “Joke em, if they can’t take a fuck.” You don’t have to live in accordance with the overall society’s goals. keeping up with a contest you don’t care about is losing. Figure out what matters to you. You might have to sacrifice a little to the social norms to reach your goals but that’s different than sacrificing your dreams and goals to keep up with society’s goals. Some people may not get that and try to force you to live their way. Unless they are someone directly related to your 3 Fs (feeding, financing, or fucking you) can largely ignore them and walk away. If they are a 3F you still have the option to decide to at least try and move on to a different/better situation. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/5 "2015-10-23T06:30:11Z")
It doesn’t matter if you win or lose the rat race, because you’re still a rat. – Many variants; used by (and commonly attributed to) Lily Tomlin, but [Quote Investigator] ([http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/28/rat-race/](http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/28/rat-race/)) gives many earlier antecedents. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/6 "2015-10-23T12:57:20Z")
The secret is – not to care. About anything or anyone. ---
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/7 "2015-10-23T22:03:11Z")
I need to find a “How not to care” course… point me the way and I will sign right up! I got the “push, push, push” thing from that Twilight Zone episode called a Stop at Willoughby or something like that. Really can identify with the passenger. Thanks for all the commiserating. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/8 "2015-10-24T04:29:38Z")
_gets in line behind LegendHasit for the rocket out of the maze_ ---
**Author:** ![Subtlety\_Wrecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@Subtlety\_Wrecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subtlety_Wrecks)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/9 "2015-10-24T13:36:36Z")
I’m 2-8 minutes late to work everyday. It’s a huge dumb company with policies for everything so I haven’t officially been “tardy” in over a year. 15 minutes would be officially late. Every Tuesday I wake up, shower and get on the road to take on my first work day of the week. I swear at the people driving too fast (in my opinion) on the left and too slow (in my opinion) on the right. When I finally park at work I let out one last combination of swear words and then head inside. I smell stale coffee, shitty cologne/perfume and nasty breakfast foods. Then sit at my desk and get to work, knowing that a reprieve is only a few days away. Truly “working for the weekend” like that song. I cope by drinking shitloads on the weekends. Definitely don’t recommend it but it works. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/10 "2015-10-27T04:32:55Z")
Look at it this way: if _you’re_ ready to go to Mars, you’ve gotten out ahead of society by considerable. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feeling-pushed-by-society/735488/11 "2015-10-27T05:58:14Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The secret is – not to care. About anything or anyone. Now I see I’m just fine. Thank you.