The Cost of Living Is a Quiet Kind of Cruelty
Dispatches from the Quiet Rebellion
There’s a certain silence that follows financial fear.
It’s not the panic kind of fear. It’s the exhausted, humbling kind.
The kind where you’re not sure how you’re going to make rent next month... or how you’re still stuck feeling hollow despite your six-figure salary and unlimited PTO.
I’ve lived both.
I’ve been the guy digging for quarters in couch cushions, squatting in abandoned buildings, praying my car would start so I could make it to the third shift of the day.
I’ve also been the guy earning a quarter million a year at one of the most powerful companies in the world... wondering in the brief space between back-to-back meetings why it all felt so empty and wrong.
And the more I talk to people (especially high performers) the more I discover…
this isn’t rare.
It’s the norm we’re all quietly surviving.
Maybe Pink Floyd had it right.
“The life of quiet desperation.”
The cost of living is a quiet kind of cruelty.
It costs money just to exist...
And in this system, your worth is often measured by how much you can produce, extract, or endure.
So when people say “follow your heart”?
I wince.
Because for a lot of us, following our hearts wasn’t a bold, dreamy leap.
It was a last-ditch move after years of surviving in an economy and system that doesn’t favor heart.
Some of us went tens of thousands into debt just to gain access.
To the job market.
To tech.
To media.
To the illusion of stability.
To the American Dream itself.
That dream has a cover charge… and most of us pay it in debt of one kind or another.
Student loans.
Home loans.
Soul on loan.
Others got buried just trying to survive, because minimum wage doesn’t come close to covering the basics anymore.
It’s not heart vs. brain.
It’s survival over. soul.
And let me tell you...
I’ve shoveled pig shit, packed boxes on loading docks, signed up for clinical drug trials and slung ecstasy in clubs just to keep the lights on.
I’ve lived out of my car.
Squatted in abandoned buildings.
Done whatever it took to make it through the month.
And I’ve also made a quarter million a year pushing data around in spreadsheets and slide decks for big tech executives to ignore.
And now I’ve watched $70,000 of my hard-earned net worth from that period of my life vanish in a matter of days thanks to Trump’s tariffs...
While billionaires got richer and no one in power blinks.
But here’s the thing: I’m not worried.
Not because I’m resilient.
Not because I’m lucky.
Not even because I’m confident.
It’s because I know (deep in my bones) that I’ll figure it out.
Or die trying.
That’s not drama. That’s reality.
That’s the way of the “cost of living” for too many of us.
Let’s not get it twisted.
This is why I talk about rebellion.
Not the loud, flashy kind.
But the quiet, radical act of choosing your life.
Of reclaiming your time, attention, energy.
Of daring to ask: What if there’s more than this?
It’s not always easy.
Sometimes it starts in the “coal mines”.
Or in the car along your hour-long commute.
Or the spreadsheets.
Or the boardroom.
Or somewhere between back-to-back meetings, wondering how the hell you got here.
But the spark of something real is worth it.
What I’m learning (again and again) is that this rebellion isn’t about rejecting the system entirely.
It’s about seeing it clearly.
Naming it.
And then deciding to live by a different rhythm anyway.
It’s not performative.
It’s not Instagram-worthy.
It’s not always pretty.
But it’s honest.
And necessary.
And deeply human.
Hi, I’m Nicholas Whitaker. Human BE-ing coach and conscious work advocate.
I help high performers reclaim the spark that’s been buried beneath survival.
If that’s you... you’re not broken.
You're not alone.
You’re just ready for your Quiet Rebellion.
The Call:
What’s your earliest memory of the “cost of living” hitting hard?
Have you ever had to trade soul for survival?
What’s one small act of rebellion you’ve made to reclaim your spark?
📬 Share this Dispatch if it made you pause.
Or drop a reply. I always read them.
Be Rebellious,
In Solidarity ✊