Joe Rogan | Living a Life of Quiet Desperation

Well, it's like the Pink Floyd line, you know, living life of quiet desperation. I mean, that just terrifies me. That's the Rose quote, that most men live lives of quiet desperation. It's one of my favorite quotes ever because it's true. And I've been that guy. You're just in this world where you just can't wait to just run away. And how do people get stuck there? How do you think they get stuck there? Bills. Bills, like financial bills? Yeah. Bills and commitment. You have an apartment you have to pay for. You have a car you lease. You have a wife that you have to feed. You have a child you have to raise. You have to, you have your mortgage. You have your this, you have your that. And that's where it all comes from. Where do you think opportunity plays into that? Well, the opportunity takes place usually when you're young and you don't have any responsibility. That's when you have your options. Well, your options are severely limited the more you gather responsibilities. Like if I had to, as a 51 year old father of three, married man pays taxes, has a house and a mortgage and a business and all that jazz. If I had to quit everything now and struggle the way I struggled as a stand-up comedian, it would never work. But the only way I could be this person now is if I took that chance when I was 21, when I was dead broke and had my cars repossessed and all that stuff. That's the only way you ever get where you want to go. You have to take a path that's dangerous. And most people want to take the safe path. And the safe path leaves you stuck in quiet desperation almost every time. It's hell. It's hell. You're selling insurance or some other shit that you care zero about. But can people just make that change? I mean, I believe that you have to plan it out. The way you can change is you have to put aside enough money to give yourself a window. And then you have to have a plan and you have to spend all your waking hours outside of whatever shit job you do, planning your escape. And you have to come to the realization very clearly that you fucked up and you got yourself stuck. So whatever you're doing, you have to do it like your life depends on it. And whether it is you're trying to be an author and you're going to, if you're going to try to be an author and you're working eight hours a day plus commuting plus family responsibilities or whatever else you have, whatever time that you have, you have to attack. Like you're trying to save the world. You're trying to save your life. You don't want to drown that one and a half hours a day that you have to write. God damn, you better be caffeinated and motivated. You got to go. You got to get after it. And you got to have discipline. That's most people don't have those things. Most people don't understand what it's like to really go for something and to know that the consequences of not doing that are horrific. Then you're desperate and you're quiet. But I do think there is something to be said for fate and circumstance. Sure. And I always write, I mean, people in these military environments that I write about and in these intelligence world environments, fate and circumstance plays a big part because they too can even get complacent. But when your life is on the line, right? A lot of times they have these experiences where they're like, I must change. And that's what I find really interesting in people. Yeah, sure. Desperation.