Getting out of the Grind

All of us, so many of us, who have tried to do everything right throughout our lives—get a good education, earn good grades, enroll in the right courses, associate with the right people—why are we so sad and mad? I don't think, as a generation, we are a set of weak people. I think we, as a collective, are realizing that as much as we don't want to chase after money and credentials, we are forced to do so by the system. We have placed our happiness and success in the wrong spots. We chose isolation and hard work over community and pleasure. But maybe it is time to collectively give up on the grind culture. I don't think we are lazy. I think we need different things. We see that the grind of the generation before us has resulted in changes that are not particularly "progressive". We are still standing helpless in a world facing genocides. We are seeing how, as a society, we are more unified by hate and profit than anything else. Why do we not have time for protest? Why can't a normal person find time to act on something that they obviously think is wrong? Because that will distract us from the work that we are doing to make money to survive, in isolation (even if it's with a family). I know I am privileged enough to take passion seriously. But I am afraid of finding new things that I am passionate about because that will distract me from the path of 'growth' that I am on. Because it might end up in financial loss. I want to have enough power to give up on the grind. I don't want to accumulate materials and make that the meaning of the life I have lived (I obviously know I am at luxury to say that). I want to feel that I have worked enough to make time for several things that I am passionate about. I need time to care about people other than myself. I need time to protest. I want very badly to get out of the grind.