@Jason Weiland - I didn't want to ask this in LI. So I cam here to see how I (we) can help spark the momentum. I have days like that and havinv someone to think and brainstorm with helps me pick up momentum.

If you're here, you're probably over 40 and fighting the same fight I am. Sending out resumes that disappear into the void. Getting ghosted by recruiters. Watching younger people get hired for jobs you're overqualified for. Wondering if you're unemployable or if the entire system just broke while you weren't looking. You're not imagining it. The job market is brutal right now. Especially for us. I'm 57. I've been freelancing for over 20 years. I have a degree. I use AI tools every day. I'm faster and better at my work than I've ever been. And I still can't get hired. Not because I'm not good enough. Because companies don't want to invest in people like us anymore. We're too expensive. Too experienced. Too likely to know our worth and not accept garbage wages. This group exists because we're all dealing with the same thing. And most of us are doing it alone. Scrolling LinkedIn at 2am wondering what we're doing wrong. Applying to jobs we're overqualified for and still not getting callbacks. Trying to figure out how to rebuild a career in a market that decided we're disposable. You're not alone. That's why we're here. Drop a comment and introduce yourself. Where are you? What kind of work are you looking for? What's your biggest struggle right now? Let's actually talk about this. Let's help each other. Let's stop pretending this is normal and start figuring out how to survive it together. Welcome. I'm glad you're here.

Let's step back, discard all the nonsense we were taught from childhood, and just consider the proposition. "You need a steady job so you can have financial security." What's a job, anyway? It's a contract, with a counterparty that is a PROFIT-MAXIMIZING institution. In most places, they can cancel that contract at any time, for any reason or none at all. Let's be serious: what the HELL kind of "security" is that? And you'e trained to feel LUCKY to have one! Hahahaha! Now that I'm 50, I really regret having been employed as much as I've been throughout life. It's destroyed my self-respect, and it's long past time to win it back.