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Burnout and Mental Health

stephaniehurlburt.com

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Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#31

Post by 9erdelta »

itg wrote: post #15
theparanoid wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walk away. I waited too long and lost a year of my life. It took 4 years to get back on track.

>Walk away H1B folks can't easily do that. One reason why companies love hiring them.

I think this is actually something more people need to be aware of. When I found out a good friend of mine was in this position, a lot of my opinions about immigration and foreign workers changed. To me it is of a similar spirit to the condition of Bangladeshsi workers we hear about from time to time.

Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#32

Post by adamnemecek »

tsunamifury wrote: post #22
jondubois wrote: post #12

This sounds like the past 10 years of my life. I can't even enjoy normal life activities anymore... And I can't afford to take a long enough break to recover (if that's still possible?). I don't even care about memories anymore - I'm in survival mode; I'm just a bullet moving towards its target. It's like I've been running through a tunnel as fast possible for a long time and I can finally just see the light at the e…

This is actually one of the symptoms of anxiety -- it makes you over-estimate the consequences of stopping. You need to choose to take time, push through the initial panic rush that will come from it, then come out the other side.

Can you talk more about this? Do you have any resources on dealing with this? OPs description hits a bit too close to home.

Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#33

Post by nul_byte »

I hope I don't sound conceited here, but this was me and I resolved the issue.

Meditation. 15 minutes a day is all it takes, and I get myself to that place of not giving a care in the world and feeling all the stress just drop away. The only way I can describe it as, is like when you go on a beach holiday and you're lying in the sun, not sure what day it is (Saturday, Wednesday?) and feeling content.

Its now become vital and essential for me to mediate, it feels as important as sleeping and eating. I don't have any aspirations to become enlightened, I just wanted to stop waking up fearful in the morning and content during the day and night.

Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#34

Post by vvanders »

_yosefk wrote: post #9

For someone with no responsibilities except work, 70 hour weeks are sustainable (did it for 3 years, not to be recommended, but no burnout.) People report way larger numbers of hours though and probably have to handle more than just their work; I don't know where things start to break down, they ought to somewhere.

Some people thrive in that sort of an environment.

I'd sure as hell would never want to work with them.

Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#35

Post by tostitos1979 »

gt565k wrote: post #24
jondubois wrote: post #12

This sounds like the past 10 years of my life. I can't even enjoy normal life activities anymore... And I can't afford to take a long enough break to recover (if that's still possible?). I don't even care about memories anymore - I'm in survival mode; I'm just a bullet moving towards its target. It's like I've been running through a tunnel as fast possible for a long time and I can finally just see the light at the e…

Take 2 weeks off and buy an airplane ticket asap. It helps to have something to look forward to. Go to a different country, a change of scenery, new cultures to explore are always a great way to take your mind off the daily grind.

This is not a bad suggestion. Sometimes your sanity requires taking a break. We forget the world/company/team doesn't stop without "us". Being in a different environment really helps. I've done a weekend trip to Disney and a longer trip to Hawaii. Both were done with little planning and really helped me out.

Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#36

Post by Swizec »

itg wrote: post #15
theparanoid wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walk away. I waited too long and lost a year of my life. It took 4 years to get back on track.

>Walk away H1B folks can't easily do that. One reason why companies love hiring them.

You can always walk away. Always. It's just a matter of the consequences being worth it or not. That's up to each individual.

As Jack Sparrow said: "The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do."

At least H1B's are transferable. I'm on an O1, which is technically non transferable.

Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#38

Post by tostitos1979 »

itg wrote: post #15
theparanoid wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walk away. I waited too long and lost a year of my life. It took 4 years to get back on track.

>Walk away H1B folks can't easily do that. One reason why companies love hiring them.

Take a 2 week vacation. I really really doubt you'll get fired for that. If it is such a deal breaker, tell your boss you need 2 weeks, and be okay to go down to 1 week. With the weekend on either side, that is plenty of time to destress. Even if the project is going crazy at the moment, bring this up now so you have relief a month or two away. This also has the benefit of giving you something to look forward to for that time. H1B should not be slavery.

Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#39

Post by Swizec »

tequila_shot wrote: post #25
outworlder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All I do these days is code for 15+ hours everyday with an impending weight hanging over my head constantly that I'll be made a scapegoat if the project fails. This is a legitimate question, not a criticism: why do you think that you, specifically, will be the scapegoat? Is it possible that you can find a way to not work 15 hours straight? Since you know that the project will crash and burn anyway, this effort will…

> This is a legitimate question, not a criticism: why do you think that you, specifically, will be the scapegoat? Because I am the lead developer on this project and the manager of this project was always unavailable to escalations / concerns. In the end I just think he'd wipe his hands off and say he was never involved in this project ( though he is supposed to be working 50% on this project)

Sounds like a great scapegoat to me! Hope you have all those email threads stored :)

If not -> start producing them.

Re: Burnout and Mental Health

#40

Post by vvanders »

gt565k wrote: post #24
jondubois wrote: post #12

This sounds like the past 10 years of my life. I can't even enjoy normal life activities anymore... And I can't afford to take a long enough break to recover (if that's still possible?). I don't even care about memories anymore - I'm in survival mode; I'm just a bullet moving towards its target. It's like I've been running through a tunnel as fast possible for a long time and I can finally just see the light at the e…

Take 2 weeks off and buy an airplane ticket asap. It helps to have something to look forward to. Go to a different country, a change of scenery, new cultures to explore are always a great way to take your mind off the daily grind.

Going to throw a visible +1 into the ring here.

The only way over burnout is to put some distance between yourself and work.

Also, it's incredibly hard to self-evaluate your output when you're overworked and stressed. You may think you're making forward progress but you're usually harming the project and yourself more.

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