Yeah, that’s pretty much it. It’s easy to fall into the gamification of social media and push yourself in harmful ways. While this comic is exaggeration and obviously doesn’t reflect how every person who says this feels, it’s really just a way to have a dialogue about why someone apologizes for not doing some personal thing enough. It’s not like I’m “immune to propaganda” either here, as I’m also a people pleaser; it’s something I have to actively contend with because of my upbringing. Art is just one of those things I’ve managed to put my foot down over because of what it means to me.
As for the hobby to job thing, I feel a good life lesson would be to never go down that path if possible. You don’t get a hobby that is a job, you simply lose a hobby and gain a job. I know this world is disgusting and some may see this their best way to survive in capitalist hell, but that just makes the journey sadder. This is also why when I encounter hobbyists with ways to pay them, I just donate instead of commission. They already gave me joy with their expression, after all.
All depends on the situation you’re in, though people generally end up needing to work all those hours to survive basically. If you have the privilege to work fewer hours and enjoy your life more, it makes perfect sense you’d want to do so. It is inherently an exploitative system, though it’s more than just the raw number of hours worked too. Personally, part time wasn’t much better than full time for me, because I’d just be scheduled all over the place to patch gaps for full-timers, so I never had any routine consistency. Regardless, I hope things work out for you if you get that position.