I'm fairly extroverted, so not being around people for so long has been rough, but my company is amazing and doing WFH until September to keep us safe. I'm a bit more distracted, but have been fairly productive. I need to eat better though and excercise more though. I think I'll be able to adapt in the near future though and get back to full productivity again.
Ask HN: How are you holding up?
221–230 of 398 posts
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consider the alternative: Social/political climates and the "cancel culture" always has something to target. If you look, at any given time, this is something that has been going on since we could communicate in a public sphere. There has always been and always will be a tension in the public conversation. I wouldn't say "cusp of actual war" though. There are many people however who are hoping and actively counting o…
> cusp of actual war Yeah But, India and China are quite seriously considering war right now. No joke.
The situation is unprecedented, yes, but war is not going to happen. Physical war, unless you are in crisis states which are fighting among themselves, is very rare. War among nuclear powered nations will also be difficult to ignite.
Despite the bravado of 'an eye for an eye' every politician cares about their future. Modi won't start a war with China and China won't with Modi.
China is already on a backfoot about the Corona situation and Modi is on a backfoot about a LOT of things but the media is bailing him out. I don't think war will be a right thing for both the nations.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#223These past three months have been amazingly good for me.
1. I was able to get out of the hellhole of my loud noisy open office that was a mix of developers, QA, project managers and customer facing pre-sales and post sales implementation managers.
2. We had a pay cut that caused me to run a Hail Mary and apply for a fully remote job at $BigTech in the cloud consulting division. I now don’t have to worry about an open office for a few years.
3. My relationship with my spouse has gotten even closer. We’ve found a balance between time together and our alone time. Luckily, we have enough space in our house to go to our own corners.
4. My wife was a part time fitness instructor before Covid and had a full time role in the local school system. During Covid, she turned her study into studio and she is now teaching classes online making pretty decent pocket money.
5. Because of Covid, I really didn’t want her back working in public again. Now with my new job we can easily afford for her to stop working and with her side business she will still keep herself busy.
6. Completely separate: we already converted another bedroom to a gym, our workouts didn’t miss a beat.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#224I'm hanging in there, thanks for asking.
In mid-March, after a messy parting from a startup, I left Manhattan for my parents' place in the suburbs, intending to stay for a few weeks; three months later, here I am.
I had blue periods where I got nothing done and just scrolled through reddit all day. Today I am enjoying running barefoot, the 16 hours of daylight, and the sheer luck of getting along well with my parents.
That last point is the big one, to me. I guess if I had any general advice, it would be to put energy into having good relationships with your parents, if you can. They won't be here forever.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#225Years ago, I visited the zoo in Central Park in NYC and watched a polar bear, as it swam around and around in a pool. It swam in a triangle, touching the three same points on the wall of the enclosure as it made each circuit. Last month I walked around Greenwich Park in London 125 times, each time following exactly the same route. I thought about that polar bear a lot as I walked.
Not to take too dark a turn here, but human zoos were not uncommon at the turn of the century. The Bronx Zoo had people, in cages, on display in 1906. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo
That is really low. I had no clue human race could ever stoop down below enslaving another human.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#226Really badly, but could be worse. I am entirely sure that I have moderate-serious depression since the lock down started. I rely entirely on external structure and physical separation of spaces to keep myself sane. So WFH has been disastrous for me. I have been eating worse, not working out, stopped pursuing hobbies/side projects and have been incredibly unproductive at work. Thankfully, a year of good results prior…
I feel you. This has been such a shitty time just in general around the world, and I've been having a hard time personally as well. During the past month I've been pretty unproductive at work (partially out of my control), we had to put down our dog of 15 years, my grandpa had a stroke, and one my uncles has an extremely aggressive form of cancer. Luckily I'm still in good health, and I don't know anyone with covid-19.
My favorite blog was also shut down this morning by the cancel police (same blog as you). Reach out if you need someone to chat to!
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#227Really badly, but could be worse. I am entirely sure that I have moderate-serious depression since the lock down started. I rely entirely on external structure and physical separation of spaces to keep myself sane. So WFH has been disastrous for me. I have been eating worse, not working out, stopped pursuing hobbies/side projects and have been incredibly unproductive at work. Thankfully, a year of good results prior…
Strangely the coffee thing struck a chord with me. When I was having a bad time some weeks ago (worries around grandparents and covid) I got really frustrated because on top of that I spilled water on my keyboard.
Like, in the big picture, that's not important at all. But that send me over the edge into complete frustration. Was pretty unproductive afterwards.
I'm sure everything will turn out fine for you though, hang in there!
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#228It's over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the Arctic Circle. Vast amounts of methane are wait in the permafrost. Despots and tyrants are gaining power. The world's most powerful nation has a billion people and no concern for ethics. Everyday people - myself included! - live in a system where fighting to improve these things means risking your kids' home, healthcare, and well being. I'm a nervous wreck and when I look at my…
> I have been trying to find liberal democracies with arable land in cool climates with a credible national defence, and have found none. I think Switzerland checks all your points. IMO you're way over dramatic about the climate. But even if you're right, why worry for something you can't change ?
Could they repel China? Russia? I think the best hope is NATO becoming meaningful again.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#229Keep expecting it to get easier but being stuck with a toddler and two older kids with 1.5 jobs between me and my wife has been tough. It's exhausting, there's basically no downtime, and we end up in spirals of shame and guilt at being terrible parents, partners, employees. All of this to a constant backdrop of fear and uncertainty, trying to balance sanity with following the rules and the science, trying to mediate…
This resonates so much. In a very similar boat myself. A near four year old and near two year old, and a partner that is not as outdoorsy as myself makes for incredibly distracting days (toddler politics are crazy; those who know, know). As soon as I end my work day, I get both babies outside because they need that intensive activity more than I need to sit on the couch and be consumed by depression and anxiety.
Doesn't help that despite a 20% salary cut, my hours of operation have only increased as my employer furloughed a large chunk of our workforce. My ol lady works on the weekends, so even after working 50 semi-productive hours a week (7AM to 6PM most days, sometimes later) I don't get a break as she works twelves Friday through Sunday, often from early afternoon to early morning.
The mental toll has been substantial, which I'm sure has led to some lasting effects on those I share a roof with.
After talking with my mother about this, it seems this is a multigenerational thing -- people that lived through Civil Rights, Woman's Sufferage, JFK, Vietnam, Korea, The Cold War, etc are just as heavily impacted. No one is functioning well right now.
At the end of the day, all we can do is keep trying the best we can, and hopefully we don't release total a-holes to the world when all this is said and done. Hopefully we don't become total a-holes ourselves.
Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?
#230Not great. I spend 22 hours of my day in the same room, split between ten hours laying in my bed and twelve in my chair. I had just moved to a new city before everything, started a new job. I don't know anyone, it's impossible to really meet new people. My roommates all disappeared to larger living spaces in the middle of March. They're paying rent but I'm alone, and even when they were here I have nothing in common…
> I had just moved to a new city before everything, started a new job. I don't know anyone, it's impossible to really meet new people.
Meeting new people seems impossible, but it doesn't have. It helps to connect with others over a common interest or hobby. Boardgames, hacking for fun, volunteering, writing, photography, art, music, radio making, astronomy, movies, sports, gardening, museums, libraries, animals, cooking,... There's plenty out there to bond over.
Instead of trying to meet new people, try to look into something which is a bit outside of your comfort zone, but has piqued your interest. Look into activities like workshops, classes, courses, initiations,... Every city has plenty of small non-profits with really interesting offerings who do outreach to local communities.
It's up to you to figure out what you want. So, I just gave you a few examples. Well, try this: sit yourself down with a piece of paper and take 10 minutes to jot down every activity which pops up in your mind and is doable. Okay, you do that exercise every day for the next 5 days, refining your list. Meanwhile, you start to do some research about the things you've jotted down. Find out if they are interesting. You don't have to work on that 24/24. But keep things in the back of your mind and scribble down what you think. After 5 days, you should already have an inkling of things that might be interesting to do while getting you out of the door.
As for meeting people: that happens as you start going to those social activities. Sure, it's a lot like your first day of school and you don't know anybody. But that's literally how everyone starts out. At the same time, you're an adult now, and the people you'll meet are adults as well. And the vast majority will understand that you're new around their parts.
Yes, the quarantine has shut down a lot of activities, but that doesn't mean you can't shoot an e-mail to whatever initiative you stumble across, finding out if they would welcome you shortly, right?