What is a rat race?
According to Wikipedia, “a rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit.”
The rat race invokes the image of a mouse running around helplessly in a never-ending maze or spinning wheel.
The Rat Race in Real Life
In real life, the so-called “rat race” refers to a person’s time consuming-job, burdened with mounting debt, mortgages or house rent, bills, children’s educations, and other liabilities, resulting in one to slave himself or herself to their work for hours and even years to a soulless work or career.
The job involved usually is hardly satisfying nor rewarding.
A person trapped in a rat race usually toils their way to work for years down the road.
A rat racer becomes like a zombie. Working without a sense of passion and usually has low self-esteem due to years of boredom and hopelessness at work.
How do you know if you’re in a rat race?
You are probably in a rat race if:
- You feel miserable and dreading to go to your “stable” job every morning
- You have no motivation to go to work every day and is hard-pressed for any inspiration
- You can’t wait for the clock to reach 5 pm. All you want is to go home.
- Monday is your least favorite day and Friday just isn’t coming fast enough!
- You work so hard to receive your measly income at the end of the month but you have hardly enough for yourself because most of the money is used to pay the debt.
- You hardly have any free time for your hobby and spending quality time with family is proving to be a challenge for you.
Continuous pursuit of a rat race is really detrimental to your physical and mental health!
If you identify yourself with any of the statements above, chances are you are probably in a rat race as well.
Sadly enough, most of those who are in a rat race don’t even realize that they are in one. Working diligently, but without much purpose or passion, oblivious to the fate that they are in.
If you continue to soldier along with your rat race job, this can affect your physical and mental health in the long term.
Some of the effects that you can expect are:
Long-term physical effect
- Being overworked can increase the chances of a heart attack
- Not enough or sleep; Can be argumentative and feeling tired always
- Work-related stress can build up over time and can put more stress on your body
- Low energy level due to working without a sense of purpose.
- Long hours of physical inactivity can cause obesity. Obesity in turn increases the risk of other physical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high blood cholesterol.
- Low physical health conditions due to a sedentary lifestyle
Long-term mental effect
- Mental fatigue due to the long hours spends on working
- Problem with your memory
- Inability to concentrate
- Depression or general unhappiness
- Moodiness and easily irritated
What can you do to escape the rat race?
Now, I believe that you can see that the vicious cycle of a rat race is real.
So what can you do to escape the rat race?
Firstly, you got to acknowledge that you are in a rat race.
Secondly, start to plan and learn ways to get other sources of income either offline or even online.
I shared a post on the importance of having multiple streams of income to help to accelerate your escape from the rat race as fast as possible. You can read it here.
Better still, I highly recommend you to learn the best way to do a legitimate online business from my no.1 rated online business training program here.
Don’t wait!!
If you think that you are already in a rat race situation, please start to do something so that you can escape the rat race wheel.
Do not wait until it is too late for you.
There is a saying “The best time to start was 20 years ago. The second best time to start is today!”
So what are you waiting for? Start your journey to escape the rat race today.
This site has many useful information and tips that you can apply to change your life for the better.
If you any opinions or feedback for me, just drop me a comment below!
–dominic@dlansing–
I am sure that millions of people, like me, are trying to escape from the rat race. As you point out, not getting out of it can greatly hurt our physical health and our general well being. I must confess that Friday is my favorite day of the week!
Hilda
Thank you Hilda, I really appreciate your comment. Despite the ongoing rat race that we are in, we must do something for our future so that eventually we can escape from the rat race.
dominic@dlansing
Hey DLansing, the rat race is a true struggle and this post greatly outlines the reasons why. Its something I’ve been lucky enough to escape and recommend that everyone who reads this post to take you up on your offer of how to escape it.
Thank you very much for taking time to comment here Diondre. You are very lucky to escape the rat race. I believe that I am on my way too and it feels very close now.
dominic@dlansing
I will escape rat race hahaha.
It is better to work at home.
Thank you for your tips on how to escape rat race my friend 🙂
Hi Edy, you’re welcome. Same to me too. I know that I will escape the rat race. But I just don’t want to be hasty to take my decision. When I’m ready, I will do it 🙂
Seeing that I am currently in the ratrace, i love your information on how to escape it. I had never even heard the term rat race until your website, so it is pretty cool that you centered your them around it! This can be very helpful to people not knowing about this like myself. Great looking theme as well!
Hi Shaun, I’m glad that I introduce you the term rat race to you. This site is dedicated especially those who struggles in a rat race and are looking for ways to escape. In this site, I have many alternatives solutions and tips for online business. I hope you find this site useful and beneficial. Thank you.
dominic@dlansing
Dlansing,
When I look back at the Rat Race I was a member of and the amount of daily stress I endured I am fortunate to have survived and kissed it goodbye forever.
I love how you covered the negative physical and mental effects the day to day grind cause in most anyone.
I escaped when I “Uncovered the Secrets to Making Money Online” just like it says top right.
Thanks for the inspirational guidance, my best,
Gary
Thank you Gary! You are certainly lucky to finally say goodbye to the rat race. I certainly hope that my time is near as well. Wealthy Affiliate is a blessing for me and I will work hard to learn and apply all the secrets to making money online 🙂
dominic@dlansing
Hi Dominic – You make a very good argument about getting out of the rat race in your post. i also like the way you have given a solution to the problem.
Good work
Mark
Thanks Mark, really appreciate your thought. As a person who is in a rat race myself, I feel the need to share my experience and possible solutions that can be done to tackle the problem.
dominic@dlansing
Ugh, the rat race. I was trapped in the rat race for years, and I guess I still am, in some ways. You do a great job of describing it. I agree with you that Wealthy Affiliate is a great way to get out of the rat race and start doing what you love, when you want to do it.
Thank you Stephanie. We know that we are in a rat race when we are not happy at our job, has no sense of purpose and work-life balance is almost non-existence. Wealthy Affiliate is our ticket to escape the rat race forever!
dominic@dlansing