What should I do if I’m 33 and don’t want to work anymore?

I was born in 1993, and I’m a programmer.

I’ve been working for nine years, and this year, more than ever, I really don’t want to go to work anymore.

But I’m in no position to simply quit and do nothing. I don’t have a penny in savings, I still have a ¥500,000 mortgage to pay off, and my family keeps pressuring me to have a child.

To be honest, my current job is actually pretty good. I get weekends off, rarely work overtime, and earn a decent salary.

But for some reason, I’m just sick and tired of working. Maybe doing the same kind of work for too long inevitably leads to burnout.

Every day is a struggle. I have to force myself to go to work. I don’t want to study or improve myself, and I have no motivation to work hard or move forward.

I spend every day scrolling through the news, and most of what I see is negative—especially stories about layoffs and unemployment—which only makes me feel worse.

Right now, I’m simply enduring each day, waiting until I’ve paid off my debts. Once I’m debt-free, I’ll figure out what to do next.

A lot of my friends are curious about why I feel this way. After thinking it over, I decided to explain it and perhaps offer others something to reflect on in their own lives.

About four years ago, I began exploring the possibility of a second career.

At the time, I still genuinely loved being a programmer. I simply wanted to use my spare time to earn some extra money.

I spent a year trying several different fields, including content creation, but none of them worked out. Partly because I wasn’t truly passionate about them, and partly because I wasn’t capable enough.

Later, I started writing web novels—and once I began, I couldn’t stop.

I discovered that I genuinely loved writing web fiction. I never seemed to get tired of it and enjoyed every moment.

So I kept learning and writing, pouring almost all my free time into it: during my commute, after work, on weekends, and whenever I had downtime at the office.

Even though I earned absolutely nothing from it, I persisted for two years. Across several novels, I wrote nearly two million Chinese characters.

Just when things were finally beginning to improve, AI arrived, and content-production studios flooded the market.

I had no choice but to follow the trend and imitate what others were doing. However, I wrote far too slowly to compete with those studios, and eventually I was pushed out of the industry.

When all your effort brings no reward, it inevitably crushes your spirit.

To be honest, the broader economic environment has been terrible over the past two years. Compared with many other people, I’m actually in a pretty good position. Sometimes, even I feel that I’m being overly sensitive or dramatic.

But that’s simply how life is. Only the person living it truly knows what it feels like.

Countless small, seemingly insignificant problems pile up until they become a huge weight in your heart. That sense of pressure and persistent sadness is something only you can truly understand.

I’m actually a fairly strong person. The fact that I continued writing web novels for more than two years without receiving anything in return is proof of that.

I also know how I should adjust my mindset, but my circumstances don’t currently allow it. As I mentioned, I have no savings, and my debts haven’t been paid off yet.

The debt is actually a personal credit loan that a friend helped me arrange: ¥700,000 over five years, with two years remaining.

That’s also why I have no savings. Whenever I have any money, I use it to repay the loan as quickly as possible and reduce the interest.

Anyway, enough about that. Let me talk about my plans for the future.

Reality leaves me no choice. I’ll have to grit my teeth and endure another two years.

After that, I want to live differently.

I plan to sell my apartment, find a quiet place on the outskirts of a city, and open a simple guesthouse dedicated to emotional and psychological healing.

It would provide basic food and accommodation, offering a refuge specifically for people who are emotionally wounded, lost in life, depressed, heartbroken, or struggling in similar ways.

I want to bring people together so that we can heal one another while living as affordably as possible.

We could grow vegetables, go fishing, raise a few chickens and pigs, and spend our time however we like.

There, everyone would still have access to basic social interaction while being sheltered from the judgmental eyes of the outside world.

The guesthouse would also provide plenty of free recreational activities to help people regain their emotional balance.

And in the process of helping others heal, perhaps I could heal myself as well.