There's a shift happening.
Beneath the humble-brags and the passive income promises, beneath the morning routine posts and the grindset mantras — something's cracking.
People are asking questions they were never supposed to ask:
"What if none of this actually matters?"
We're more connected than ever, yet somehow more lost. Everyone's performing success while secretly asking ChatGPT: Why am I so unhappy?
This isn't about giving up.
It's about waking up.
The Noble Lie of Sacrifice
I saw a Father's Day post that said: "Real heroes are the men who go to work every day for their kids."
My gut reaction used to be: That's honor. That's commitment.
Now I think: That's the story we've been sold our entire lives.
We built a culture that measures a parent's love by how much suffering they can endure in silence. By how well they can pretend that trading their dreams for a 401(k) is noble instead of tragic.
Look around. We've created the most advanced civilization in history — and somehow most people still feel stuck. We've got more tools, tech, and opportunities than ever before. Yet everyone's exhausted, anxious, and quietly wondering if this is all there is.
The answer we're given? Work harder. Sacrifice more.
So you think: I'm not happy, but maybe my kids can be.
Well, our kids are watching. And guess what? We're losing them.
Young People Know the Game Is Scaling Out of Reach
They did the math: College debt + entry level wages + housing costs = a life sentence.
So they're doing something radical: They're refusing to join in the game.
The older generation calls them lazy. Entitled. Soft.
But they're actually more awake than people give them credit for.
They're collectively saying: "This system doesn't work, and we're not going to pretend otherwise."
Instead, they're building their own things. Starting businesses before they can drive. Creating content. Finding ways to work that don't require selling their souls to employers that don't care about them.
The problem? We built a world that requires everyone to keep pretending.
The Whole Thing Runs on Denial
Our entire civilization runs on specialization. On people showing up to jobs they tolerate to maintain systems they don't understand for reasons they've forgotten.
Air traffic controllers. Network engineers. Supply chain managers. Thousands of invisible roles that keep the lights on and the packages moving.
What happens when an entire generation says "Hard pass"?
Who will keep the lights on?
The optimists believe AI will save us. That we'll automate away the drudgery and free humanity for higher pursuits.
The realists know better. We're not building AI to free ourselves — we're building it to replace ourselves.
Because that's what we've always done.
A 10,000-Year Pattern
Look at history. Every civilization eventually finds a way to outsource its suffering:
- Ancient empires used slaves
- Feudalism used serfs
- Capitalism uses wage workers
- Now we're building machines
The pattern is always the same: Those with power find ways to avoid work while convincing everyone else that work is virtuous.
But now we're approaching something new. We're building systems that don't just replace manual labor — they replace thinking. Creating. Deciding.
So I have to ask: If the machines can do everything better than us, what exactly are we for?
The Identity Crisis Nobody Wants to Talk About
We spent centuries convincing ourselves that work equals worth. That productivity equals morality. That a person who doesn't earn their keep doesn't deserve to exist.
Then we built machines that work better than any human ever could.
See the problem?
We're about to have billions of people with no economic purpose in a culture that says economic purpose is the only purpose that matters.
Today's mental health crisis is real. It's what happens when you build a society around work, then make human workers obsolete.
There's Another Way
I left my software engineering career not because I had all the answers, but because I couldn't keep pretending the questions didn't exist.
I couldn't keep climbing a mountain that leads nowhere.
I couldn't keep trading my life for money in a game where the rules keep changing and the prizes keep shrinking.
So I did something that shouldn't be radical but is: I started creating my own path.
Not because my story is unique. But because it's not.
Because if someone like me — an uncertain, reluctant entrepreneur — can build something outside the system, then maybe the system isn't as inevitable as it seems.
Creation as Revolution
When you build your own platform, monetize your own ideas, connect directly with people who value what you offer — you're not just starting a business.
You're proving the system isn't the only option.
Every creator who makes a living outside the traditional path is evidence that we don't have to accept the story we've been sold.
That's why I started teaching this stuff. Not to help people "get rich quick" or "scale to seven figures."
To show them how to buy their freedom back. One piece of content at a time.
The Real Question
So where does that leave us?
Standing at a crossroads between two futures:
- We keep playing along, hoping the system that's failing us will somehow fix itself
- We start building alternatives while we still can
I know which one I'm choosing.
If you're feeling that same pull — that sense that there has to be something more than grinding away at a company that sees you as replaceable — then maybe it's time to stop waiting for permission.
Is it scary stepping outside the system? Sure.
Is it scarier than spending your whole life suffocating inside it? Not even close.
Start Where You Are
I'm building something for people ready to take that first step — Video Creator: Make Videos That Feel Like You.
It's not about becoming an influencer. It's about finding your voice and learning to share it without feeling like you have to perform or pretend to be someone else.
I'll have more details in the coming weeks. For now, if this resonates, just hit reply and let me know. Tell me what's holding you back from creating. What you're afraid of. What you wish existed.
Because I'm building this for people like us — people with something to say who are still finding their way.
The world's not going to heal itself.
But we might be able to heal ourselves.
And sometimes that's enough to change everything.
— Andrew
P.S. They call us the "creator economy" like it's just another industry. But I think we're something else. We're the early warning system. The canaries in the coal mine escaping to find bluer skies.
