“I thought I could resist the rat race. I thought: ‘I’m a...

“I thought I could resist the rat race.  I thought: ‘I’m a unique guy.  I like to mix things up.’  So I fought it for a long time.  I stayed up past my bedtime.  I listened to music really loud in the morning.  I rode my bike to work.  I always tried to find new places for lunch.  I joined a softball team.  I went to concerts on weeknights.  But I just got tired.  I ended up staying later at the office.  And I fell into a rhythm: come home, watch TV, and go to sleep.  I’m not sure I can do this for the next forty years.  I just miss waking up and not knowing what’s going to happen.  It’s never explicitly said to you that you need to live on your own, and have a good life, and meet someone, and have kids, and have those kids be more successful than you are.  But you feel the pressure all the time.  You feel it every time someone asks how your job is going.  Right now everyone in this park is taking a break from the thing they have to get back to.  It’s comforting in a way.  There’s a sense of solidarity in it.  We’re all feeling the same obligation.”