Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

I long ago came to terms with the fact a lot of problems when working with technical systems arise out of the human side of things. People saying they did this, but they actually did that. People staying silent out of fear of looking daft, or hoping to $deity they don't attract attention to themselves. People saying they understand when they demonstrably do not.

I guess I had a slight shift in life goal. I'm no longer all about just learning/driving/using computers, but actively trying to get at the root of what makes it so difficult for people to bridge the gap/learn them well enough to use them.

Particularly since there are so many problems with other complex systems you can't even recognize until you've had the epiphany that nothing is magic, and if you didn't do it, it's not a safe assumption to think it'll just work, you can't even begin to approach trying to understand that they are fundamentally broken.

If you look for a job a bit later, it's actually easier than looking for it right after when you find yourself unemployed ;)

I think a bunch of people here advise to "care less", but in my case I realized it was hard for me to care more because I was in pain... (emotional, physically tired, etc).

Things started to change when I paid closer attention to my environment.

.Make sure you pick your friendships carefully. A crisis is a good chance to see who's reliable in your life. When receiving good advice, it is easy to ignore it or dismiss it. Really pay attention to trustworthy advise.

.Maybe controversial but... I stopped “giving for free”. You may not be standing on a place where you can be so generous. It can be draining to be selfless. So, still help people, be kind and generous, but do it for people that deserve it. Giving while being con, manipulated, or gaslighted depletes your energy and resources.

.Don't be controlled by your emotions, but also don't ignore your gut feelings ... factor them in while making decisions. Avoid extremes.

.Remove people from your life that may be harming you. Gaslighting has become a buzzword but for a reason... Beware of this and other kinds of psychopathic behaviors [1].

.Cut off whatever is not helping your main objective. Avoid having too many goals, projects and hobbies at once.

.Get rid of “ambiguous friendships": If you ever asked yourself, is this person really my friend? ... I'd say, it is likely they aren’t.

.Some side activities may not be bad per-se, but avoid exposing yourself to an energy draining environment. Say, belonging to some sort of team, like sports or dance, where nobody ever is on the same page. Even “good” activities like fitness related ones, could be consuming too much time? Perhaps refocus is needed.

In short, my environment was draining me of my ability to feel engaged at work. Some things in my life were not even bad per-se, but it was a problem of lack of focus: I identified my main source of stress (my lack of engagement with work), but found that removing all the energy drainers and distractors made it a lot easier to engage with work.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting