I can definitely relate to what you’re describing. There was a time when work felt more self-evident, but today, a lot of work is more abstract and ambiguous, which brings its own kind of exhaustion. For me, procrastination often stems from not being entirely sure what I’m supposed to be doing or what my real target is. It doesn’t help when management just says, “fix the problems,” without providing clear guidance.

One thing that has helped me is acknowledging that this uncertainty and anxiety are part of modern work life, and it’s okay to feel overwhelmed. The key is to remember that you’re a human being, not a machine. The work you’re doing isn’t necessarily easy, and that’s alright. Instead of rushing or being paralyzed by perfectionism, I try to slow down, break things into smaller tasks, and remind myself to relax. Clarity will often come in the process, not before starting.

Honestly, I don't think we've seen a true democracy since 508 BCE with the Athens in Greece :|

See! I had not heard of QMMP, it looks great, thanks for sharing that :)

Absolutely, it’s unfortunately a law of the status quo. My biggest concern is that once force is used to take the reins, you’re stuck defending them, which just brings us back to the same place. I’ll admit, I’m likely ignorant of many Marxist ideas. Maybe they have a solution for that, but knowing how humans tend to operate, things often fall short of ideals. Are there any proposals in Marxist thought that address how to avoid falling into the trap of constantly defending the new status quo? I’d love to understand more about that, because honestly, I don’t know what the solution would be. That’s way above my pay grade!

Only fools argue in ultimatums

We always have to pander to the capitalists profits, how could the make money with clean electricity???

The moment humans brought nuclear armaments into the world was also the moment that we severed ourselves from our humanity. We are still living in the shadows of metaphorical guns to our heads. This escalation of madness has led us down a very dark path, and for that reason, I'm out.

They would if we stopped the gravy train

Somehow, I manage

I understand your frustration; many of us have been there, myself included. After 20 years in engineering, I've come to realize a few things. The daily grind for a corporation can indeed be tedious and full of disappointments. Often, it feels like we're just completing meaningless tasks for someone else's vision. Our minds wander to our own projects and ideas, and it's tempting to start prototyping those instead of focusing on work.

This feeling of unfulfilled potential isn't going away because we can see how much better things could be. But here's what I remind myself: I am fortunate to have a stable job, even if it's programming mundane things for average needs. This stability allows me the luxury of working on my own projects after hours. Without this job, I'd likely be stuck in gig work, struggling with low pay and irregular hours.

So, I view the routine work as a necessary "tax" I pay to secure personal time for my own creative endeavors. It's a trade-off that provides income and stability, enabling me to pursue my passions on my terms.

Honestly, just download/install from your package manager and then start using it. One of the best built-in modes is called Org mode. Don't try anything crazy because it's easy to get overwhelmed. It took me some periods of stopping and starting before things felt natural and became my daily driver.

I completely support you all. I find working with AI in ChatGPT has been fun overall, personally. But, I also see what MS is doing right now arguing that they need to take screen-grabs at some interval to make this all work, I think this is BS. I see how OpenAI has been doing to moderate the content AI uses to train, it has a dark side. AI and Privacy are not mutually exclusive. AI invading your privacy is a conscious choice by big tech and it is shameful, but this does not mean that AI can't also be helpful. I like this guide, because it helps mitigate that agenda.