It’s because they aren’t thinking about anything but whatever is in front of them at the moment. I’m guessing you’re like me: I’m thinking about absolutely everything in my life, all of the time.
When most NT’s get a winning lottery ticket for $500, they usually think of nothing but all of the cool toys that they’ll spend it on. If I won the same $500, I immediately start stressing about what bill I’ll pay. And that sends me into the rabbit hole of thinking about how broke I am. Which leads me into wishing I had gone to college and had a better job.
Some people’s default is to ignore their problems. Mine is too think about them perpetually. I wish I could turn it off and just be ignorant and happy, but I’d also prefer not to be ignorant.
Mate, I sympathise fully. But as it turns out going to college and uni didn't help much. I've got, by all accounts, a pretty senior role. Problem is we moved country, then a bunch of natural disasters happened which made the migration twice as costly, and the central bank here decided to dump money into the economy and increase house prices.
Net result, we're priced out of the housing market while people who just happened to live here 5 years earlier are now multi-millionaires. We're renting, and get kicked out of our house once a year so the landlord can rake in profits and that will be it, for the rest of our lives. No home, no permanence, no memories for the kids of growing up in the same loved house. Nomads.
It costs so much to rent that I can't see us saving anything substantial, so we're going to be terribly poor when I can no longer work. My only realistic plan for when we retire is to use up the meagre savings we have within a few months, have a lovely romantic dinner with the woman I love, then find somewhere scenic to jump off. For those who happened to buy a house a few years back, it's the life of reilly. But for us, we will never be in a position where we're not in danger of a miserable old age with no support and no money to pay for health care. I did everything right. I didn't gamble, I worked hard, I got my education. And now I'm beholden to people who blindly stumbled into being a millionaire!
It keeps me awake at night. I refuse to even talk about it or I'll not be able to sleep. My wife mentioned pensions the other evening, and that was it, zero sleep that night. I just try to focus on tomorrow, on providing for my family, paying the bills. Like you I'm beyond tired, because, like you, I know there is no off-ramp.
ETA: Also worth mentioning, I don't handle the next day after alcohol as well as you do. So although it makes the evening before go pleasantly and I can fall asleep feeling things are cool, I'll wake at 5am with my heart racing and that feeling of dread. So I've decided to give it my absolute everything for one last try to get out of this damn hole this country and society has created for us. If it fails, I'm going to the doc for some strong anti-depressants and will mentally turn the lights off.
