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Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

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Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#41

Post by AussieWog93 »

Burnout is your brain experiencing fatigue from being pushed too hard. You cannot will yourself to be more productive - it is guaranteed to backfire.

The best things I've found to cope with burnout are tasks that can't be optimised, are unimportant, and low-medium intensity. Just going for a walk is a good way to start, as is helping friends and family with things they need to do.

Spending months in front of a TV watching Star Trek doesn't help, nor does attempting to invent a new, marketable product. It has to be somewhere in the middle.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#42

Post by jb775 »

My guess is that your passion is still there, but you're currently just about maxed out mentally working at the FAANG. (even if you don't think you are)

In my experience, side projects require much more mental effort than initially thought. At different stages of life, we have different levels of available bandwidth.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#43

Post by madaxe_again »

arkitaip wrote: post #39
madaxe_again wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This all rings very familiar - I left my business in 2016 as I was absolutely disintegrating, and my business “partner” wasn’t prepared for me to take six months off to recover, as it would mean him stepping up to the mark and dealing with the nightmare fuel I spent my days on. Anyway. Five years on, haven’t worked since other than very lightweight consultancy. Live in the woods. Still wake up at 0430 every morning i…

Have you had therapy?

Yes. They mostly wanted me to take a lot of drugs, and there was talk of experimental brain surgery, and I just don’t want any of that - whole damn process just made me more stressed and anxious - so now, I just smoke weed from when I wake to when I pass out.

I’m damaged, but functional - managed to build a house with my own hands this spring, while writing an ISO27k1 ISMS, while living off grid - I don’t just sit around on the couch - hell, don’t have a couch.

So yeah. Coping rather than being cured is the best many can hope for - and I’m just about coping.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#44

Post by Keyframe »

grayrest wrote: post #28

I took up cycling. When I was 35 I was having trouble with back pain that I assumed was rooted in not exercising. I find cycling to be the least objectionable form of exercise. My hip popped back into socket after a couple weeks and that was the main cause of back pain but I find I feel significantly worse and am less productive if I don't keep up with the exercise. For purely code stuff, I tend to learn a new langua…

Just be careful around cycling since it's one of the worst things you can do to your back. edit: if not done properly / mind the posture etc.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#46

Post by ntlk »

madaxe_again wrote: post #27
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think each bout leaves some permanent damage, along with increased risk of subsequent bouts. Negative experiences tend to produce learned behaviors and reactions that we’re not aware of. These can be overcome, but it takes effort to identify them and implement deliberate changes in our behavior. There are various ways of doing this from self-guided books to professional therapy. It’s not exactly “damage” in the s…

I’m not sure that you can talk yourself out of physical brain damage. PTSD alters the character and volume of grey matter present in the brain. I guess veterans etc. who suffer throughout their lives with it just aren’t sufficiently resilient?

The brain can be reshaped again following trauma. The Body Keeps The Score is a book that talks through the effectiveness of different approaches to healing and how they impact brain changes.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#47

Post by epicureanideal »

rriepe wrote: post #36

I "burned out" while working at a FAANG and it just turned out to be a health problem, accelerated by the food there. All of my side projects from the time are extremely uninspired.

Can you share some general information about the health problem, in case the rest of us should be watching out for it?

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#48

Post by gugagore »

madaxe_again wrote: post #34
prox wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But not all burn outs are the same. PTSD level burn outs do, but you also have other types that aren’t at that level. As always the answer is “it depends” and get professional help.

Perhaps we should have different words for “I am maybe feeling a bit tired of doing the same thing every day” and “my brain is physically damaged from years of relentless 24/7 stress to the extent that basic functions like sleep elude me”.

I do not think it's scientific to claim the "brain is physically damaged from not-very-physiological-thing". We do have evidence for brain development that must occur before it is too late (e.g. critical window for language).

Sustained and elevated stress causes damage to the whole body, not just the brain. If understanding what you experienced as brain damage helps you accept how things happened and how things are, then all the more power to you.

But if there is something in your thought patterns that you want to change, but feel hopeless that your brain is damaged, I recommend trying to find another framing aside from "damage".

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#49

Post by t-writescode »

I don't code for fun anymore. I haven't for a couple years. Honestly, it all just takes too much time. I enjoy writing code for work; but, at home, I work out, I play video games, I spend time with friends and go on hikes.

I think it's okay for you to not be interested in doing side projects anymore, there's a lot more to life and the world than programming; and, if your heart wants to venture outside of it, then let it! You might find another, wonderful passion :)

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#50

Post by madaxe_again »

ntlk wrote: post #46
madaxe_again wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure that you can talk yourself out of physical brain damage. PTSD alters the character and volume of grey matter present in the brain. I guess veterans etc. who suffer throughout their lives with it just aren’t sufficiently resilient?

The brain can be reshaped again following trauma. The Body Keeps The Score is a book that talks through the effectiveness of different approaches to healing and how they impact brain changes.

Yeah - I was recommended this shortly after I crashed out - good read, interesting insights, and I did find therapy helpful with the more conscious aspects of my collapse.

The bits that won’t go away are the dread, the insomnia, the constant anxious waiting for the sky to fall. I think I’ve pared off the behavioural bits over the years and have largely addressed them - but my mind continues to wrestle with intangible beasts.

My cousin has just qualified as a psychedelic therapist, so later this summer he’s visiting and we’re going to try breaking the cycle.

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