zlacker

This is incorrect, at least as a general principle.

I haven't done "slave labor" for more than 20 years, having initially imagined I was rich enough to retire at 32 (that turned out to be wrong), then later converting an open-source passion project into a very comfortable middle class living. No boss, no rules, no schedule, just lots of people who love what I do and that includes me.

However ... the Box of Daily Experience is still a feature of my life too.

>>PaulDa+(OP)
Do you feel oppressed / depressed? Your work life sounds great (compared to an office rat as portrayed in the article)

>>ccvann+v
I am not oppressed. My work does not depress me. But the key point of TFA (and Seneca's letter that inspired it) is that the details matter less than you think: the "oppression" of the Box of Daily Reality comes more from the way you think about it rather than its actual contents.

There are plenty of days when I reflect on how it was just another day, same old same old, completely predictable. Granted, I don't have to put up with the BS of a regular job, which eliminates one aspect of the Box of Daily Reality for me. But then again, I work (mostly alone) from home, and so my days involve very little physical interaction with anyone. Equivalent to the suffering of slave labor? Probably not, but just a different element of my particular Box of Daily Experience.