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Why I Collapsed on the Job

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Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#11

Post by cyberferret »

Lxr wrote: post #8
cyberferret wrote: post #2

Burnout doesn't differentiate between gender, race, sexual orientation, social status or the size of your bank account. Much like when I was in flying training and we were subjected to the altitude simulation pressure chamber so that we could each identify how we individually experienced the onset of hypoxia, I think it is important that everyone notates down the onset of burnout at home or at work. For me, Stage 1 i…

I agree you need to catch it early. I often wonder what the most time-efficient form of mitigation is.

For me, it is to totally distance myself from my work. That means downing tools, and taking myself away from tech completely, and usually into a different environment. Low stage burnout can be solved by simply spending a weekend completely away from phones and computers, and just pottering in the garden.

Later stage burnout usually means taking myself away from even my home town for a bit and soaking up experiences in a different place. Which is exactly what I am doing now - tomorrow I hop on a plane for a 20 hour flight to the other side of the world, to spend a week on a ship (never been on a cruise before). Maximum recharge, no work.

Addendum: Important to realise that burnout recovery doesn't necessarily mean sit on a beach and do nothing. Often, my recovery time is some of my busiest, but it is doing something completely different from programming which recharges me, like learning a new song on the guitar, or doing other audio work.

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#12

Post by grondilu »

> But suddenly my body refused to heal from a simple infection, leading to inflammation that left me bedridden and unable to perform most of my duties for five long weeks.

I whish she had tell us more about this, more precisely about what exactly convinced her the real cause was her burning out rather than an exceptionally nasty infection.

Not that I doubt it was, but honestly it's what I'm most curious about.

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#13

Post by easytiger »

donquichotte wrote: post #6

TLDR: It's an anectode of "an associate professor of education-policy studies" at Penn State who suffered from burn-out. I have no idea what we are supposed to take away from her story. Don't work too hard and learn to say no, I guess. There is no clear narrative and the article reeks of self pity (she does not get tired of mentioning that she's a "twice an immigrant" and a woman). EDIT: what bothers me about the art…

Sounds like a millennial manifesto to me.

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#14

Post by deerpig »

donquichotte wrote: post #6

TLDR: It's an anectode of "an associate professor of education-policy studies" at Penn State who suffered from burn-out. I have no idea what we are supposed to take away from her story. Don't work too hard and learn to say no, I guess. There is no clear narrative and the article reeks of self pity (she does not get tired of mentioning that she's a "twice an immigrant" and a woman). EDIT: what bothers me about the art…

I hope somebody down votes this. If I could I would.

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#15

Post by monkeynotes »

k__ wrote: post #5
mosselman wrote: post #3

The point the author seems to make by peppering the article with these mentions of gender seems to be that burnouts in education are gender related. These struggles are universal for all teachers, not just women. Saying 'xyz is hard in education, especially for women' creates an environment in which men should just suck it up and 'stop whining' because women have it truly hard. Saying no to people is hard for many pe…

Education is mostly filled with women. Otherwise women aren't inclined to throw away their life for their job. -- EDIT -- Sorry, was on mobile. What I wanted to say is. Normally, women aren't as fond as men to invest a big bunch of their life into their job. They have the skills, but realize they don't want to work 100h a week to get to the top, when 30h are more than enough to make enough money AND have freetime. Th…

I was surprised by these stats: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/03/06/chart-the-perce...

I don't really follow your conclusion though. Why is it education is so attractive to women? Why do you presume that other professions are considered by women to be 'throwing their lives away'?

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#16

Post by chvid »

donquichotte wrote: post #6

TLDR: It's an anectode of "an associate professor of education-policy studies" at Penn State who suffered from burn-out. I have no idea what we are supposed to take away from her story. Don't work too hard and learn to say no, I guess. There is no clear narrative and the article reeks of self pity (she does not get tired of mentioning that she's a "twice an immigrant" and a woman). EDIT: what bothers me about the art…

Yeah. She writes as if this is unique to her profession, gender (?!) ... but it is not. This sounds like any other burnout stories from so many fields. Sure some fields are worse than others but academia is probably one of the better ones.

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#17

Post by bionsystems »

grondilu wrote: post #12

> But suddenly my body refused to heal from a simple infection, leading to inflammation that left me bedridden and unable to perform most of my duties for five long weeks. I whish she had tell us more about this, more precisely about what exactly convinced her the real cause was her burning out rather than an exceptionally nasty infection. Not that I doubt it was, but honestly it's what I'm most curious about.

Constant stress impacts negatively the immune system, you can look it up it's quite well researched. Men sana in corpore sano :)

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#18

Post by germinalphrase »

myspy wrote: post #7

Employers, as well as state institutions need to look more at the health of their employees. Even in Germany we have the problem that people at universities work way too much. People need to be told to stop and take a step back. Hard borders are a necessity. No longer than 40 hours (better 35) per week for EVERYONE. Being it doctors, university professors, steal workers, teachers, cleaning personal. There are enough…

As an American teacher who routinely works 50-60, the idea of only working 35/wk feels like a dream.

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#19

Post by apatters »

annabellish wrote: post #4
mosselman wrote: post #3

The point the author seems to make by peppering the article with these mentions of gender seems to be that burnouts in education are gender related. These struggles are universal for all teachers, not just women. Saying 'xyz is hard in education, especially for women' creates an environment in which men should just suck it up and 'stop whining' because women have it truly hard. Saying no to people is hard for many pe…

>xyz is hard in education, especially for women' creates an environment in which men should just suck it up and 'stop whining' because women have it truly hard. It isn't a competition. Everyone's experiences are valid and correct. That women, on average, face the problems of (profession) plus the problems of being a woman in (profession). This doesn't mean that men don't have problems, that their problems are somehow…

You come across in this comment like you're trying to have your cake and eat it too. In the first paragraph you say that everyone's issues are "valid," but in the second you say women's issues are more "significant." What does it even mean to say that men's issues are valid but not significant? It sounds like you're still writing off men's issues as unimportant.

The whole premise that women's issues are more significant or important deserves some skepticism. We can cherry pick certain groups of privileged people, such as computer engineers or CEOs, where I'd agree that women have it harder. (In education, I'm less convinced.) But in the general US population (which is majority female):

- The unemployment rate is majority male

- The homeless population is majority male

- The incarceration rate is massively majority male

- Women do better in school

- Women live longer

Re: Why I Collapsed on the Job

#20

Post by mosselman »

annabellish wrote: post #4
mosselman wrote: post #3

The point the author seems to make by peppering the article with these mentions of gender seems to be that burnouts in education are gender related. These struggles are universal for all teachers, not just women. Saying 'xyz is hard in education, especially for women' creates an environment in which men should just suck it up and 'stop whining' because women have it truly hard. Saying no to people is hard for many pe…

>xyz is hard in education, especially for women' creates an environment in which men should just suck it up and 'stop whining' because women have it truly hard. It isn't a competition. Everyone's experiences are valid and correct. That women, on average, face the problems of (profession) plus the problems of being a woman in (profession). This doesn't mean that men don't have problems, that their problems are somehow…

"It isn't a competition." and "...women generally, on average, face more and more significant issues"?

Double standards aside, that is exactly my point. It isn't a competition and it isn't fruitful to talk about gender when describing the struggles of people in a profession unless those struggles are directly related to gender. Which in this case they clearly aren't.

I think reducing every problem, in this case getting overworked, to gender devalues the real discussion about gender inequality.

One real problem with people getting overworked is budget. More money for more workers will make everybody's job easier. Another aspect is people's personal lives in which they can face challenges that cause them stress and make it hard to balance work and life. Solving things like this will make everybody's lives better regardless of their age, race, gender, sexual preference, etc.

You also say: "women generally, on average, face more and more significant issues" "men also have their own set of problems." "Everyone's experiences are valid and correct." Again this is the 'men have problems but women have the real problems' argument. "Everyone's experiences are valid and correct." some are just more valid and correct.

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