All injustice of the world keeps me up at night. That good people are dying. That many people have no way out of slavery, poverty, survival mode. That it happens while rich and powerful deny them a chance. That war is everywhere in one form or another. That centuries will pass before we get many of today's problems fixed. That many people stay broken and miserable despite having what seems to be normal life from the outside. That racism, sexism, bullying are everywhere. That so few people actually care about all those things.
Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
21–30 of 82 posts
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#22Never being able to retire.
My country turning into either a theocracy or an autocracy (or maybe both at once). Whether there's any way to stem the tide or get out before it slides any further.
Those are the big ones.
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#23Not being able to make enough money. As I lived in extreme poverty in my childhood (and all that changed thanks to online MOOCs). I now work as remote SE and I have around $10k in savings. I am graduating with robotics and AI masters degree. But I always fear that I will lose all my money and be poor again. I literally prefer dying than being poor again. The worst days of my life, I couldn't have a proper childhood b…
True but you survived it. You adapted and made something out of it. Don't forget that strength. No one can take that a way from you.
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#24Money & being the sole income earner in the house (wife and 3 kids) and doing it by freelancing. Like most Americans, we live payment-by-payment. The other problem I have is anxiety, procrastination, and similar issues. If you're asking this to fish for product ideas, I would love to see a managed task-master assistant service. Remember that story of a guy that used to pay someone to sit next to him and hit him whene…
Have you thought about setting up a system like this with another freelance friend? Every day you could hop on a call with them and tell them your goals. You can help each other flesh out task lists and determine 'pomodoro-like chunks'.
It seems like you wouldn't really need to hire someone for this, you can just find an accountability buddy who would benefit from these meetings too.
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#25I am worried about my grades and my scholarship. I am doing a really tough courses on the Applied Mathematics degree and, currently, my grades are not really good.
Study! It's worth it! Or drop it down a level. Maybe you have too many classes going on. Work load might be too high.
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#26I worry about earthquakes (Seattle), machine learning eliminating technical support jobs, and longer term career prospects.
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#27[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#28My only daughter stopped breathing and turned blue 3 days after she was born, and I, lucky to have attended a first aid course just 3 weeks prior to that, was able to perform CPR and make her regain consciousness. She's 14 months old now and perfectly healthy, but the horror of those minutes where she was dying in my hands still haunts me. It's getting better, but every now and then my brain briefly relives those moments.
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#29That by the time I'm finally done with my student loan and credit card debt, something else will come around that will yet again prevent me from hitting my financial goals.
That I even accumulated $40k worth of credit card debt in the first place. This wasn't one of my proudest decisions.
That I'll never be happy with what I have and will always strive for more.
That I'll lose my fiancee/wife in the process.
Re: Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
#30That a history of trauma and lack of stable attachments in my life has but one likely outcome: The eventual end of my life by my own hands.
I see a therapist regularly, but I've always had this sense of being a broken individual who is always a few steps behind everyone else. It feels hopeless and definitely keeps me up at night.