I’m 37, and I’ve spent the better part of the last decade staring at a double monitor setup, watching my youth evaporate in a climate-controlled office. We’re told this is the “Singapore Dream”—the career, the 5Cs, the steady climb—but look at the actual math. It’s a scam.
We spend the best hours of our day, the peak energy of our lives, and 80% of our waking week dedicated to a corporation that would have a job posting up for our replacement before our obituary is even printed. For what? To pay off a mortgage for a concrete box we’re only in long enough to sleep and shower?
The Corporate Treadmill
In Singapore, “work-life balance” is a myth we tell ourselves to stay sane. We don’t work to live; we live to work. You wake up, squeeze onto the MRT, sit under fluorescent lights for nine or ten hours, and by the time you’re back home, you’re too mentally fried to do anything but scroll through a phone or pass out.
The pressure is relentless. If you aren’t “upskilling,” you’re falling behind. If you aren’t hitting KPIs, you’re a liability. We’ve been conditioned to tie our entire identity to a job title. When people meet you here, the second question is always, “So, what do you do?” as if your salary range defines your worth as a human being.
The Cost of “Success”
I look at the people around me—burnt out, gray-faced, surviving on overpriced caffeine—and I wonder when we collectively decided that this was okay. We sacrifice our health, our hobbies, and our time with family for a “comfortable” retirement at 65.
But here’s the reality:
- Time is the only non-renewable resource. You can always make more money, but you can’t buy back your 30s.
- The “Gold Watch” is a lie. By the time you’ve “made it,” you’re often too tired or too old to enjoy the freedom you traded your life for.
- Lifestyle Inflation. The more you earn, the more you spend to “reward” yourself for the stress, locking you into the cycle even tighter.
Why are we doing this?
Why are we wasting 80% of our lives for a “standard of living” that leaves us with no life to speak of? I’m tired of the grind being glorified. I’m tired of the hustle culture that treats burnout like a badge of honor.
We’re essentially trading our limited time on earth for digits in a bank account, while the years where we actually have the physical capability to explore, move, and create are being poured into spreadsheets and “sync” meetings. It’s not a life; it’s an endurance test. And quite frankly, I’m done pretending it’s worth it.