When you ask a question like this in a place like this, understand that you're going to be getting replies from people who have jobs where you can sit around and be bored on the internet

Good workplaces are like the after-school extracurricular classes, you go because you're interested, it's fun to problem-solve with people.

I have to be regularly told to go home at the end of the day.

We like to be useful. Pitching in and doing our share and making/doing things for other people who do the same for us feels good. Its a large part of what got us here and not living in caves dying of infection.

Recently its become perverted though. There's not enough satisfaction from being a useful member of society, and too much of the guys above you shouting "more! Faster! Better! I can replace you so easily!"

Place and purpose baby! Working for someone/being exploited sucks shit, sure, but doing stuff is awesome. What else are you gonna do?

Its a fuckin nightmare, but gotta eat

because they have to, else they starve to death.

they are gonna make you hate being unemployed and long for a job by simply making you live with material scarcity if you don't.

Allow me to come at this from the other side.

I can't work. My body gave out, and even though the shit show that is disability income keeps me below the poverty line, I'm essentially useless at any job that requires me being upright. So, I'm stuck there.

But if I could go back to work, I would.

I'd want to be picky at this point, but there's a lot to be said about having structure and an external purpose (as opposed to finding one within yourself, which is still possible while working, just not necessary).

Since my job was at least emotionally and mentally fulfilling, I do miss the actual work ad well. I mean, fuck the industry and the actual available employers, but doing direct patient care was fucking awesome, even when it was stressful or painful (be it physical or mental pain).

The pay sucked. Bad enough that even working full time, I technically have a higher income now than when my hourly rate was at its highest back then. But going in, helping someone, that was the shit right there.

I could have gladly done the hands on work for forty years. Even though most days I was exhausted at the end of the day. If you're lucky enough to have a job that fulfills you, the only problem is when you can't take breaks from it, or when the broken system means you can't make a real living doing it.

I recently had a loved one have a major medical event. During the aftermath, I had plenty of chances to use my old skills, and it was one of the few bright points that got me through the fear and stress of it. There was still that old joy at really, truly helping someone get better, to have a less bad day at the very least.

But, legit, there's other things I could gladly make a job of if I were both physically capable and could make enough for it the be worthwhile.

What sucks for what you're asking is having to work just for survival ata job that isn't fulfilling.

That being said, I've known a ton of people that were quite happy being a cog in the machine as long as the pay was enough to let them live how they wanted.

Besides, you don't have to plug away at the same blah job the entire time. It's entirely possible to not only switch jobs, but move into different industries. Like, one of my uncles over his almost sixty years of working was a prison guard, a foundry worker, a school custodian, a woodworking instructor at a high school, and a mill worker. When he'd get tired of something, he'd just start looking for something with similar pay (or better) and jump ship. He bitches about being bored now that he's retired.

Find something you genuinely enjoy doing.

Also, having moneyz is nice.

The question is, what else would you be doing with your time?

There are two layers in this question.
In the literal sense, they want to work because it does something for them. For some, work is means to an end. They want to do X but they can't survive on profits from doing X so they spend some time working to do the thing that they feel actually adds meaning to their life. The other layer of this is the fear you are experiencing because you are staring into an abstract void. 'Work' can mean many, many different things. Quick peek at your Lemmy history says you have some interest in books. What if it was your 'work' to spend hours each day getting paid to read books, as an audio book reader, a literary editor, or something similar? What if it was your 'work' to spend hours each day being paid to write books as an author, or a journalist? Work can be hellish if you end up doing something you hate, for and with people you hate, to produce something you feel is making the world a worse place to live. It can also be a process of going somewhere pleasant, to do things you enjoy, with and for people you like, to produce something that you feel makes the world a better place. Work is just the label on the box. It doesn't tell you much about what's inside.

Important distinction between "working" and "having a job". You do a job for someone else. You should always be working for yourself. Labor for ones own ends in enjoyable. Labor for someone else is a means to an end. Recognize it is something to balance and balance it the best you can for the life you want to have.

I can only speak for myself, but I enjoy having a regular supply of interesting problems to solve, and the daily routine keeps me grounded.

It's the money, generally. Life is expensive.

Most people want to feel productive. Forty hours is too much but almost nobody wants to only sit on the bank that is depressing in the long run.

He who does not work, neither shall he eat

There is dignity in contributing to society, I do something I'm reasonably good at and therefore enjoy doing, my colleagues are friendly and decent people, it puts a roof over my head, food on the table, and something in the piggy bank for a rainy day.

I don't want to work in order to survive but I want to be productive and keep my mind and body sharp while also contributing to the community. I like my job and while it seems mundane, it keeps me busy, gives me routine, gives my brain problems to solve, and is sometimes the most socializing I get. I just hate that I have to be afraid to lose my job or end up hungry or homeless because of it.

There's so many different jobs and situations out there, not everything is doom and gloom with employment or work. I assume you're in school, which usually takes up just as much (if not considerably more) of your time commitment.

I like my job, I wouldn't do it for free, but I like it. I like the money it earns to buy cool shit and support my lifestyle. I'd also be so unhealthy if I didn't have the routine it gives me.

I might be an outlier, but I enjoy working. I like what I do. I also like having money.

Most days, when I get home, I do whatever housework is needed and still have time to spend with my family, work on home projects, or relax and play a game or whatnot.

Take care of yourself by exercising and eating right, find a job you enjoy, and you won't be dead tired after work. Granted, there are occasional days when I'm exhausted, but they're the exception, not the norm.

I'm middle age, and as much as you are not looking forward to working, that's how I feel about retirement. I don't know if I will ever retire, not because of money, but because I think I'd get bored.

Going to the same place 5 days a week

A lot of jobs involve travel, on a variety of scales. My brother is a civil engineer and is on a different site every week. I personally like the routine of going to the same place, but that's not a requirement for employment.

coming home with no time and energy left

I mean, that sucks. But you don't necessarily have to work that many hours or that demanding a job. I do work a physically and emotionally demanding job; I prefer to work on personal projects and household tasks during the day, go to my job in the evenings, and then it doesn't matter that I come home tired; I go right to bed.

for anything you actual like

A lot of people like their job. Another respondent said she wouldn't do her job for free; I probably would if I could afford to. It makes me happy. I can't afford to and am pretty zealous about making sure I earn a competitive rate, but I even enjoy that aspect, the competition of it.

doing this for FOURTY years or even more

I mean, it doesn't have to be the same work that while time. At forty, I've been a programmer, a teacher, a waitress, and a full-time parent. I'm thinking about picking up a trade, becoming an electrician or a carpenter or a plumber. As long as you keep learning and keep experimenting, you'll have an interesting life.

I’m a slave to capitalism. I want to eat and not live in a box on a street.

I also like playing video games. Kind of hard to play video games if you live in a box on the street.

I don't enjoy having to do it to live but I really enjoy a large portion of my job and feel like I am actually helping people

For me it was finding something I love and using the job as training to help with it in situations I like

Then again I am working in ems so the vast majority of my time is spent sitting around doing whatever I want being on call to sprint out the door of the base and or start moving the truck quickly

But seriously if you find something you love and get an actual job that wont suck every last bit of enjoyment from it having a job isn't the problem

Some places do different shifts you may wanna look into

Like the place I am at does the standard work days but you can also do like 4 12 hour shifts or at some bases a 24 hour shift 3 days one week than 2 the next with every other day off and as long as you have the pager set loud enough you can be sleeping a decent portion of the after dark period on either a 24 or a night shift 12

Just remember, work to live not live to work.

I mean... we gotta eat.

I'd say aquire as many skills as you can so that one day you can work independently and also save money on things you can do yourself like house repairs or renos. We all need to work to survive but capitalism (unfairness, inequality, abuse...) has made life miserable to millions. The system sucks but you can learn to switch between the system and your lifestyle. Prioritize your life and never be a slave to anyone.

I think pretty much everyone wants to feel useful and like they're contributing to society. I also think the modem idea of a job is awful and oppressive, but I think that's more of a problem with capitalism. If we had a better economic system, I think we'd have a better relationship with work. I know that if I didn't have to worry about making money to survive, I wouldn't be lazy and fuck off all the time, there's so many projects I would do and help others with. I suspect that's true for at least 99% of people.

But we live under capitalism right now and many people choose to accept that and try to be happy with wage slavery. "If you get a decent job that makes decent money, it's not so bad." But I think we'd be a lot healthier and happier if we rebuilt the system from the ground up.

Try to get a job you enjoy. For example I had a friend who liked tinkering with cars, he got a job as a auto mechanic. Some days he would be tired after work but on most Saturdays he would still be outside replacing/installing something on his own car.

I liked fixing things and solving problems. The joy when everything worked as it should and the machine started up. Having a problem in mind and breaking it down to separate components then understanding how it all interconnected and then seeing where the failure was. My favorite job was as a engineering technician.

I worked with someone who was going through a rough patch of life(had back issues due to previous job, his wife left him and they were fighting over custody). He straight up told the manager he just wanted a basic job that didn't require him to think and he could just get into a zone of work. He was given such a job, basically put unit in machine one, press start, take unit out, clean off burrs with file, blow off with compressed air, put unit in machine two, take unit out and pass it to next station. He didn't know how the machines worked or did he want to. He would call me over when something went wrong or the machines weren't working right. That said holy shit could he put out a lot of work. His average was about 1.5 times what was expected out of most people, his peak was over 2 times.

Don't make your favorite hobby your career or you will likely end up with both a hobby and job you hate. Find something adjacent to your favorite hobby.

Humans are social animals, and we want to feel useful to and accepted by the group.

Furthermore, some amount of work is always required to survive. It's pretty naturally baked into our brains.

I had the same dread when I was your age. In hindsight I can see a lot of it was because my childhood sucked therefore my perspective on life sucked. I just didn't know any different then. When I moved away on my own everything changed. I actually enjoyed being an adult and it all came down to freedom. I was in charge of me. I could do whatever I wanted, good or bad. Having to work to support that freedom suddenly didn't seem so bad.

Don't worry, thanks to climate change and unchecked corporate capitalism, you'll most likely not be able to work at one place for 40 years.

If you are in America and a legal adult, go see a doctor, try to get diagnosed with something that counts towards disability, then try to stay employed for at least 10 years then claim disability (generally about 10 years but look up the SSA rules for specifics), which will allow you avoid work and recieve a small amount of money that's generally impossible to live off of and severely limits what you can actually do and gives you free (but mediocre) healthcare. I haven't worked since the last day of 2019 because my new years resolution for 2020 was to not work anymore. I'm currently 43. I have ADHD, dyscalculia and I'm Bipolar.

If that's not your thing, start your own business, doesn't matter what and you don't need to actually have any revenue, just start it so you have it on paper that it exists. Then while you figure out how to stay alive using other means, you might get lucky and find some corporate dick who wants power that will buy your company for a ludicrous amount without actually knowing that you have no revenue ot staff or a product or any services. They just need it as a shell company anyways, so they can launder money and avoid paying taxes.

One other angle and the most legal and honorable one to try, is determine your two favorite hobbies. Turn one into your job focus and the other becomes the one you continue to enjoy in your free time. This method allows you to also have a backup, in case the job hobby doesn't work out. Eventually the hobby you still enjoy, if you still enjoy it, can be converted into a source of funding, provided you continually improve in it and network with other people who also enjoy it.

I guess its more the need to. I would Work less If affordable. 

I have colleagues I Look up to. Most of the time I Work independently, without a Manager interrupting.

No one likes working except for a few psychos. Everyone else does so begrudgingly. The trick is to find the least awful job you can stand to do or become one of the psychos. It took me 15 years to find a job that didn't make me dread waking up every morning, now I only dread most mornings. Luckily one day I'll be dead because theres no hope for retirement at the rate the world is going to shit.

only slightly /S

There are jobs with flexible hours and partial or full work from home arrangements, and more importantly jobs where you can feel some amount of purpose and personal growth instead of just making money (mostly for someone else, i.e. shareholders). To get such a job you might have to get some specialized skill, or just get lucky.