I’m a Circle in a Square (I don’t really want to be a part of this)

This is why I’m underemployed.

Julie X
4 min readAug 25, 2023
Photo by Kinga Howard on Unsplash

6pm. Rush hour. I found myself amongst the commuters on the train home, their faces tired and blank. A lucky passenger who scored a seat was nodding away, hugging his chubby backpack. He almost missed his stop.

It brought me right back to my commuting days so many years ago, reminding me what it was that made my spirit crumble so.

It wasn’t commuting that depressed me, it was the whole idea of putting working before living and working for decades until I either got rich enough to retire or too old to be useful.

I did not want any of these. I didn’t want to be trapped in a job I don’t love because I have to finance my life.

Do we have a choice though? It does seem like we don’t. It’s not like we’re born with a trust fund. Most of us don’t anyway.

I remember staring into my future and seeing bleak repetitions of dreaded Mondays and meaningless meetings. I’d rather die, I thought. All things considered, I almost did. So I left. I left my predictable and stable life. I left home.

Was it the job that was the problem, though?

I used to think I’ll eventually land on a job that I’ll love and it’ll get easier…

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Julie X

A minimalistic millennial trying to make her life mean something.