Most people don’t dream of working. They dream of the things they can do in life or of making a difference. Your salary is just money you’re given in exchange for time. Achieving your dreams is on you- how you use that money and your time to achieve your dreams. Most dreams take work and persistence to achieve. People who say a job is selling your dreams are usually just people who can’t or won’t do the work to achieve theirs and think showing up for work every day by itself should give you everything you want in life. Going to work is just the bare minimum. If you want more from life you need to put more into life.
Well in some cases these two things apply.
One, Your work is so exhausting, you dont have energy left to pursue your dream and free time is for rest.
Two, If you dont work you die.
The second one is a reality of life more or less period. If there weren’t jobs and consumerism you pretty much would die if you didn’t spend most of your day, every day, without scheduled breaks etc. hunting, foraging, building, repairing etc. to survive. So even in 10,000bc you need to work to survive. That’s true for most any organism not just humans. So until we evolve our technology and society to a point it isn’t- assume number 2 is true always more or less. Work, or die; or subjugate others to work for you (which still generally involves some level or work as politics is a serious game when coups and such are always possible.)
Work being exhausting is somewhat relative. Somewhere someone is working 14+ hours a day at hard labor without OSHA or any protections and is exhausted. Somewhere else is someone working 8-10 hours a day in an office sitting and eating at their desk with comforts and perks- exhausted. Somewhere else some one is working 3 4 hour shifts a week in retail and sleeping in on their day off exhausted. Human stamina can be improved, but we each have whatever limits apply to us. A major part of success is finding and realizing the ability to do that which is within your abilities and will provide for your needs.
A guy playing pick up basketball on a weekend is exhausted the same as an Olympic champion is after a hard game. The results of their work and quality are not the same of course. We all have a limit and while we can improve ourselves certain factors will feed into what our “practical achievable” potential are compared to a theoretical “ultimate potential.”
But this is where we go back to nature. In nature, you get exhausted right? Survival is hard work and the number one killer is mental. Not having the will or drive to keep going. If you want something bad enough- in theory, you will find the energy, right up to the point the body literally collapses or the mind breaks. If you run a mile you’ll be exhausted. If you train well though, soon you can run 2 miles. And be exhausted. Then 3. Or not. Some people will never run 6 miles or 15 miles no matter how well or hard they train. Maybe it isn’t in them or maybe they’re doing something or something else is holding them back.
There are dreams, and there are Dreams. You’re job likely isn’t holding you back from being a Roguish space pirate with a heart of gold. That’s a Dream. It realistically isn’t going to happen. But your dream of being a pop singing sensation? Perhaps it is. The thing about dreams is that bigger dreams tend to take more commitment.
The more “natural” advantages you have towards a dream the less you have to work towards it regardless of the size or scope- but being an Astronaut and walking on the moon isn’t something that maybe more than
.1% of all humans could just wake up and decide to do one day at 40 and achieve it. Achieving goals requires sacrifices. Willing to give up your home? Move or even risk being homeless? Willing to give up friends or family, eating what you want, “distractions” or things that don’t get you where you want to be? Many dreams require that a person all but love for the one purpose of that goal. A near total dedication to achieving that one dream.
The size of a dream depends on the size of the person. You’ll find extraordinary people. A Dr/Navy seal/astronaut for example. That’s a real guy. Who’s done 3 things that most people literally couldn’t do even one, statistically wont do even one. But for many- it might take the same relative effort to reach a dream as simple as being able to but a new car or a home. The world has obstacles and we each face different ones.
But in the end- “exhaustion” that isn’t a complete break down is us standing in the way of our own dreams. Right up to the point you can’t function enough to perform the fundamental tasks of your life- you can eat less, sleep less, rest less. We all have stress and stress impacts us. We get “burnt out.” Avoiding burnout is a skill. Knowing how- what ways you can “recharge your batteries” just enough to keep going is a survival and success skill. Walking a razors edge between discomfort and critical failure.
Chances are for most human beings- long before we reach a point that our job is holding us back from our dreams, we will reach a point where we are holding ourselves back, or we will reach the natural practical limit of our potential. If you hit your individual limits- you’ll find out if yours is a dream or a Dream for you as an individual. Until you’ve reached the point where you’ve dug so deep and traveled so far with no way back- it isn’t this or that stopping your dreams- it’s your unwillingness to sacrifice or commit to your dream. It’s a decision You made that your dream isn’t worth actually realizing for the cost it extract.
People hear that and take it negatively. It’s not a negative. It’s just true. Almost every one of us could look like a model and have all the skills of Batman and be filthy rich and powerful. We’d have to give up many things we love, be a kind of person we might not want to be, deal with stresses and dangers we might not want to face, take the risk we might do all that and end up with nothing. Evolutionary progress isn’t a process that occurs when an organism is happy and secure.
You don’t create adaptations for defense or hunting of you have no threats and food falls into your mouth. If you aren’t competing for mates etc you don’t need those adaptations. Unless you were born superhuman you’ll likely have to grow and adapt and push yourself further and harder to reach your dreams. That’s a process of stress and risk. That’s not for everyone. If your Dream is not to take risks, to play it safe etc- that’s fine. You likely won’t land too far from where you started though good or bad unless something extraordinary happens to shift your fortunes.
Tl:dr The bigger you dream- whatever big is in context to your life- then there will be risks and discomfort and likely some exhaustion. A job certainly can offer challenges to achieving a dream- but that whole “money” “skills” and “networking” deal can also help overcome challenges outside your job to reaching your dream. Life is more about what you have, and how you use what is available to get what you want. Everyone has circumstances. Even without civilization where “jobs” didn’t exist we’d face challenges. Being able to overcome challenges is a big part of defining what you’ll get out of life. That’s a personal skill. If your job is a roadblock that isn’t the jobs fault. It is just a job that needed doing. It wasn’t made for you- it’s just the one you picked. If you can’t climb that roadblock you gotta figure out what you’re going to do to get it out of the way, how far outside of comfort and safety you’ll go to get what you want.
Solution: get a job you like
One, Your work is so exhausting, you dont have energy left to pursue your dream and free time is for rest.
Two, If you dont work you die.
.1% of all humans could just wake up and decide to do one day at 40 and achieve it. Achieving goals requires sacrifices. Willing to give up your home? Move or even risk being homeless? Willing to give up friends or family, eating what you want, “distractions” or things that don’t get you where you want to be? Many dreams require that a person all but love for the one purpose of that goal. A near total dedication to achieving that one dream.