Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Take a break

robinrendle.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 171 posts

Re: Take a break

#21

Post by Swinx43 »

greymalik wrote: post #14

> small hurdles spike my anxiety, my anger flares at the slightest confrontation, I notice fewer jokes, fewer attempts on my part to make people laugh. My memory goes to all hell too and I can’t seem to concentrate on prolonged amounts of anything. Books fall off my radar, I stop listening to music. My phone is in my hand at all times, scrolly-anxiety-inducing apps become impossible to avoid. This describes me perfec…

I think it is impossible to understand how much additional stress and anxiety being a parent of small children bring without being in that position.

I refer to it as the best kept secret of parenthood. No one tells you this until you are in it.

Re: Take a break

#22

Post by mantas »

greymalik wrote: post #14

> small hurdles spike my anxiety, my anger flares at the slightest confrontation, I notice fewer jokes, fewer attempts on my part to make people laugh. My memory goes to all hell too and I can’t seem to concentrate on prolonged amounts of anything. Books fall off my radar, I stop listening to music. My phone is in my hand at all times, scrolly-anxiety-inducing apps become impossible to avoid. This describes me perfec…

Even a couple hours of a quality break helps. Especially if it’s regular. Not just when things are already out of control. My wife and I will be forever grateful to my mom for providing few hours break weekly-ish.

Re: Take a break

#23

Post by minihat »

GrigoriyMikh wrote: post #16
ArjenM wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twenty years, two months into the second burn out on top of long term depression. I'm going bankrupt for a second time because I can't work 100% anymore. I'm yet to find a psychiatrist. Wish I could have a break sometimes.

10 years in. I started to have panic attacks last year. Took a a few 2 weeks vacations. They help only temporarily. Now i'm out of vacations, trapped in a foreign country without usual citizen rights to take a many-months break from work and without an option to return home(because of war). Feel trapped without any light ahead.

This is an ancient proverb and a cliche, yet sometimes it helps me to remember it: The night is always darkest before the dawn.

Re: Take a break

#24

Post by calrain »

WA wrote: post #19
calrain wrote: post #7

30 years in the workforce 2 years starting a new startup 5 years after it was acquired Total burnout... I resigned and am 10 months into a break, it's the best thing I've ever done!

What do you do on a typical day?

First it was tons of sleeping and resting, too many computer games.

Then it was cleaning up stuff around the house and yard that I didn't have time to do.

Now it's getting back into woodworking and making things.

I missed the smell of freshly cut wood :)

Re: Take a break

#25

Post by thenerdhead »

On top of taking regular breaks, I think we should also work slower. Burnout is a scary place to be in. While the news calls it “quiet quitting”, I think many people are simply burnt out from the last few years of world conditions and add on the rubber band effect of everything going back to “normal”. It’s just too much change in a short amount of time.

I wrote a book about this topic when I was in a state of burnout. I had enough of the many different aspects of the world (overwork, the news, social media, etc) that I believe led to stress based illness.

I don’t feel bad for taking time off anymore. You got to put yourself first sometimes to be able to show up for others.

Re: Take a break

#26

Post by avgcorrection »

Dear diary. Thanks diary.

Maybe a year ago I felt sluggish at times. Slower to process and react. I had to manually think through things that I could normally do on autopilot. I was concerned about my long-term health.

A four-day weekend seemed to fix that.

Re: Take a break

#27

Post by inglor_cz »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #8

May I suggest a purely rational, evidence based take? The trap is your belief in a linear relationship between effort and outcome. Working harder and longer produces more productivity, right? That's false. As you say so yourself, your memory goes to shit. It's not just a law of diminishing returns. For coders, past a certain point, exhaustion leads you to start undoing your work. You are into negative productivity. I…

Generally, if I have to pull a massive effort (an all-nighter), which only happens a few times a year, I start with writing some tests that will keep the bug introduction problem to a minimum.

It works, though the frustration level is high. But better catch the bugs early than late.

Re: Take a break

#28

Post by wildrhythms »

thenerdhead wrote: post #25

On top of taking regular breaks, I think we should also work slower. Burnout is a scary place to be in. While the news calls it “quiet quitting”, I think many people are simply burnt out from the last few years of world conditions and add on the rubber band effect of everything going back to “normal”. It’s just too much change in a short amount of time. I wrote a book about this topic when I was in a state of burnout…

I work with a project manager who is obsessed with deadlines. "Hey do you have an update? When do you think it will be done? Hey, the deadline is really close!" They maintain a complicated Gantt chart. What happens when we miss the deadline? Nothing really, our updates aren't on a fixed timeline, and our users are very happy with our product today. Everything is artificial.

Re: Take a break

#29

Post by tekstar »

Hey, this is me.

This is extremely privileged advice, but the only thing I managed to do to help was to have a second place to go to where I didn't work - in my case a little cabin in the woods. Going there on the weekend forces me to take breaks. If I'm at home I'm working. It doesn't help that I'm a solo founder. Work is very rewarding but it can also be all consuming. And there my piano sits untouched.

Re: Take a break

#30

Post by waterghola »

I do the same. I think it's an effect of ADHD in that it's likely a deficit of forward planning.

I've been burned out from every job I've ever done, even where I initially enjoyed it. Maybe my eventual retirement will be better.

Probably my eventual death will be even better. Can't get worried and stressed and sick from it all when you're no longer alive. Thankful that the eternal peace of non-existence is inevitable.

Post reply on HN