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Ask HN: How are you holding up?

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Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#361

Post by MivLives »

bargl wrote: post #277
MivLives wrote: post #194

Not 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…

It's interesting how many posts I can think back and identify with on here. This was me a while ago, but ya know without lock-down. >The excuse of covid has only made justifications against self improvement easier. Recognize that and address that problem in the tiniest way possible. For me, when I was at one of the lowest parts of my life, I started flossing every night. It was literally the only new habit I hated to…

> I ABHOR structure in my life, but I also very much need it.

This hits the nail on the head.

Someone on Reddit suggested like... basically doing as much cleaning as you can in five minutes. The lack of need to be perfect at it really helps hide the work, and I've been doing it every six or so hours awake. This isn't my first bout of depression and the slog to get out is real. The biggest difference this time around is I don't feel hopeless. I'm tired, I'm cramped in but I'm confident this will end.

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#362

Post by raihansaputra »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #242
raihansaputra wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really thrive on externally-enforced structure (didn't take long to discover I made a terrible entrepreneur, but found a good niche as a startup employee). How did you find that out? Really interested whether I fall in the same group. I feel like I agree with you; I haven't been exercising as much because I can't go to a studio/gym to exercise, and the deterioration of both physical health and mental well-being i…

When I tried my go at doing my own startup with a colleague, I found it incredibly stressful. But a lot of that stress was due to me finding it difficult to prioritize the right things to do, difficulty motivating myself to do the parts I didn't enjoy, and just overall procrastination. To be honest, I know everyone wants to have a "growth mindset", i.e. the belief that if you're not good at something that you can dil…

Interesting. Can you share more about your startup adventures? How long do you usually stay and what kinds of teams do you prefer? I had my own stint working at a startup, but having too little skill/experience + the startup chaos made it way too stressful, but looking back it was pretty interesting.

I do agree on your last point. Part willpower, part understanding what works best for each of us. Accepting that we might not be everything that we want to be is hard, but growth is discovering the paths that we can otherwise take.

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#363

Post by mech422 »

shireboy wrote: post #290
mech422 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually feel a lil guilty about how well things are going for me. Its not really been any change for me, same schedule - same job. I think the key is as you said, mostly avoiding the news. Every day or two, I skim over the headlines on CNN but mostly I avoid it. I do check the stock market in the mornings - I swear the DJIA is just a yo-yo. But it's just out of curiosity as I still have 15+ years before I can reti…

Agree 100%. I've felt a little guilty too. I started working from home full time about 4 months before covid landed in US. I'd built a nice above garage office. Kids homeschooled already. Planted a garden that's doing well, had more time for home projects, etc. I have friends not doing so well. I have donated to individuals and organizations since I feel I have an obligation to help people in need. News is the bigges…

>I blocked several news sites and social media I habitually check in my hosts file, but somehow my browser still resolves the names. I need to fix that.

DNS over HTTPS maybe ?

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#364

Post by cyberpip »

dcolkitt wrote: post #101
TheMerovingian wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, cutting my coffee intake to near-zero levels has allowed my anxiety to simmer down. Perhaps this may help in your situation.

Contrapoint, research shows that coffee seems to act as a fairly effective antidepressant[1]. [1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000486741560313...

Coffee + L-Theanine = Balance

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#365

Post by bargl »

y-c-o-m-b wrote: post #342
bargl wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had 100% on-site. I've had one where they let me do remote 2 days a week. My current company (I went FTE) allows full time remote for Consultants. You just have to look harder to find these. As a consultant, you aren't a stakeholder technically. You are a coder-for-hire. You aren't typically going to maintain the application so you're more of an advisor. This is awesome because as an advisor, you can make some g…

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Sounds like it's been mostly a medium for finding desirable FTE positions for you. I think I just have the wrong idea of consulting. I've thought of it as guiding clients towards a specific tech stack and not so much writing code, but doesn't seem like that's a realistic view of it judging by what you've told me.

I mean that can totally be what consulting is. The nice thing about consulting is when you're doing your own business with it, it is what you want it to be. If listened to people who do this kind of consulting but you've got to be pretty setup to get to this point.

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#366

Post by RickJWagner »

mech422 wrote: post #75
jaynetics wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It never ceases to amaze me how different people are. For me, all effects have been the exact opposite. Less going out, so more cooking and healthier eating. Less tired from open office noise, so more energy for sports. More free time without commute, so I picked up some long forgotten hobbies again. This means my advice might not apply to you, but if I may still recommend one thing: ignore most of the news for a whi…

I actually feel a lil guilty about how well things are going for me. Its not really been any change for me, same schedule - same job. I think the key is as you said, mostly avoiding the news. Every day or two, I skim over the headlines on CNN but mostly I avoid it. I do check the stock market in the mornings - I swear the DJIA is just a yo-yo. But it's just out of curiosity as I still have 15+ years before I can reti…

One thing that might help is more variety in your news-scanning.

CNN will show relentlessly negative headlines until the election is over. Fox will be overly positive. There are other sources on both sides.

For your mental health-- get a variety. You don't have to agree with all of it, but get diverse inputs.

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#367

Post by vlasev »

MivLives wrote: post #194

Not 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 hear you. I too moved to a new city shortly before lockdown, knowing almost no one here. I played a lot of games for a while and then got bored of it. I wrote a lot and then got bored of it. I did side projects and got bored of them. And a lot of other stuff. It's only been 3 months, but it feels like 3 years.

I'm almost all alone, only really physically meeting 1-2 other people. It's the highlight of my weeks and gives me energy for a day or two after that, only to succumb to the boredom again. I think it really shows how social interaction is an essential "nutrient" to our lives, without which we suffer and lose our energy. It's like an essential vitamin for a lot of us.

Strangely I've been productive at work. I didn't use to be good at WFH but that has changed out of necessity. I'm not sure if it'll remain this way after we start going back to our offices. And made some personal breakthroughs by taking the time to look deep inside. And then some more. And more. Doing any sort of working out seems to produce quick gains, I think mostly because I have zero physical stress otherwise. It's not a bad time for this kind of thing.

Walks are good, but I get bored of them too. With nowhere to go in particular, it feels pointless. But it also helps. At the end of the workday, I'm excited to go outside only to stop my excitement when I realize there's nothing really for me to do.

It's a loop for sure. And nothing seems to offset that innate need for human contact, not even all the facetiming in the world. This will surely be a big turning point in society at large. I see no other way.

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#368

Post by priyaranjan »

mech422 wrote: post #363
shireboy wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree 100%. I've felt a little guilty too. I started working from home full time about 4 months before covid landed in US. I'd built a nice above garage office. Kids homeschooled already. Planted a garden that's doing well, had more time for home projects, etc. I have friends not doing so well. I have donated to individuals and organizations since I feel I have an obligation to help people in need. News is the bigges…

>I blocked several news sites and social media I habitually check in my hosts file, but somehow my browser still resolves the names. I need to fix that. DNS over HTTPS maybe ?

For macOS dscacheutil --flushdns

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#369

Post by thewhitetulip »

stepbeek wrote: post #318
thewhitetulip wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

I don't know if it's unprecedented, they were at war less than 60 years ago: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War

60yrs ago, Nehru was still the Prime Minister. That war was done because of Nehru's disasterous forward policy where he single handedly asled Indian Army to capture Chinese posts because of bad advice from his generals/advisors.

China then waites until US & Russia were busy in Cuban Missile Crisis.

JFK was still alive 60yrs ago!!

JFK had such close a relations with India that Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had askes his brother "when will a Kennedy become a President once again".

JFK wanted to help India but he was busy in Cuban Missile Crisis. But after that, UK and US started dropping military supplies. And China ended the war single handedly and went back to the status quo.

Things that have changed:

1. We are a highly interconnected economy 2. China is at a backfoot 3. Modi is at a backfoot. (Note that Nehru was facing no such pressures 60yrs ago about corona, self inflicted short sightedness on Economy etc) 4. Nehru and the Congress at that time was not based on total and pointless bravado. The current regime in India is just busy in bravado. China has encroached since May probably and PM Modi spoke a few weeks ago and then, too, he denied any incursion and that lead to China hailing him 5. Neither India nor China will afford a war, leaders will gain from a skirmish. Chinese subservient media will hail it as a Chinese victory, same as Indian media which is super subservient will hail PM as someone who defeated China.

They won't be able to peddle lies if there is a war, for the war will be entirely up in Ladakh. And Russia and US will intervene because both Trump & Putin will need that tag at home of avoiding a war.

Re: Ask HN: How are you holding up?

#370

Post by thewhitetulip »

shoes_for_thee wrote: post #343
thewhitetulip wrote: post #38

Okayish. I am a 'nerd' who loves 'staying indoors' and doesn't like to go in crowded areas. Until I was forced to stay indoors for months. I used to exercise regulary, gym/yoga/skipping/running before the lockdown. But during the lockdown, it has all gone to hell. I eat, work and sleep. I used to watch a lot of tv shows but I cancelled all subscriptions. But, on the other hand, I have begun writing stories. I had aba…

tell me more about your skipping-for-exercise routine

Buy a good skipping rope, should be heavy.

Do maximum sets of skipping that you can.

I started with 100. Because I used to do Yoga for 40min daoly, used to cycle 72km once a week, so I had built that stamina.

You can start with sets. Sets of 10/30 whatever suits you.

Weekly, either increase the set count or the speed of jumping

For eg, I used to do 100 in 1min. Yesterday I did 100 in 29seconds!

I am also doing skipping based on minutes now. Yesterday, I skipped for 3min 45seconds. My goal is to skip for 5 to 10 min nonstop.

They say x min skipping burns twice calories as x min running!

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