I’ll apologise in advance, but this is me in fed-up-with-life mode.
Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash
Let’s be honest. Surviving in post-pandemic 2025 feels like someone pressed hard mode on life and threw away the instruction manual. Every day I wake up thinking maybe today will be better. But no. The world insists on reminding me that I’m just a pawn in a badly coded simulation that’s still running on Windows XP.
Jobs? They exist, technically. But trying to land one feels like squeezing into a TransJakarta bus during rush hour. Sweaty, humiliating, and you’ll probably get shoved out before the doors even close. Salaries are a joke. Inflation laughs like a drunk uncle at a wedding. My expenses sprint. My income crawls.
And then there’s the Indonesian government. The less said, the better. If they found a way to tax oxygen, we’d all be bankrupt by tomorrow. Every time I think they’ve run out of creative ways to make life harder, they prove me wrong. Some people get flowers on their birthdays. I get regulatory headaches.
The Reality of Upskilling
Everybody keeps shouting about upskilling. Learn Python. Learn AI. Learn blockchain. Learn how to code your way out of poverty. And yes, I’ve tried. Courses, tutorials, YouTube marathons until my eyes felt like resigning. It helps. You feel sharper. Less obsolete.
But here’s the catch. The demand isn’t exploding anymore. It’s slowing down. Companies aren’t gobbling up skills like they used to. It’s like we all showed up at a buffet and the chef decided to serve smaller portions. Upskilling is not a golden ticket. It’s a safety net.
The World Situation Is a Circus
Globally? Wars everywhere. Economies wobbling like cheap plastic chairs at a warung. Climate change cooking us slowly like ayam penyet. Every headline feels like the apocalypse is being live-blogged. The scariest part is how numb we’ve become.
People tell me to be grateful. Be grateful you have a job. Be grateful you can doomscroll on an overpriced smartphone. Gratitude is nice, but it doesn’t pay rent. It doesn’t stop my wallet from bleeding every time I top up my e-wallet.
Coping in This Mess
I’ll admit, I’m one of the lucky ones. I landed a decent job with managers who don’t make me want to scream into a pillow every night. That safety net matters. Plenty of people weren’t so lucky. Bad bosses. Toxic companies. Unemployment. Brutal is the correct word.
How do you survive? I honestly don’t know. I’m not here to sell life hacks. I’m ranting because bottling it up is worse. Some days it’s sarcasm and kopi sachet. Other days it’s remembering that everyone else is equally miserable.
Why I’m Writing This
Because nobody talks honestly. LinkedIn is humblebrags. Instagram is Bali sunsets. Real life is quiet panic about rent, bills, and a future that feels like a dark tunnel with no exit sign.
So here’s my take. 2025 sucks. Surviving post-pandemic life is exhausting, unfair, and sometimes humiliating. I’m still here. Still breathing. Still trying. But don’t confuse that with thriving. This is surviving. And survival is the only option left on the menu.
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