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Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

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Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#111

Post by dbcurtis »

> I find that I simply don't care anymore.

Root cause established.

Do something you care about. Find that thing.

I know it sounds trite, but when you care, you will find the energy. Don’t be afraid to be selfish at this point.

The trap to avoid is falling into media & entertainment consumption to the exclusion of creative activities. Consume in the service of your goal. Spend as much time painting as watching Bob Ross — substitute “painting” and “Bob Ross” with something your care about, of course.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#112

Post by ThrowAway1922A »

aliqot wrote: post #75

I can't tell you it's all gonna be okay because I don't know that it will, but I do know that you should go fishing, because for that moment of clarity and relaxation, what does matter to you will become clear.

This is good advice, I used to fish a lot and really enjoyed it. Relaxing, but also filled with incredibly exciting moments.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#114

Post by thomastjeffery »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #36
ThrowAway1922A wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean if they want to try and medicate me I'm not going to say no at this point, regardless of my personal views on the diagnosis. I've reached a point where I don't think any additional harm would be caused by doing so. I'm going to find out in ~2 weeks at my next meeting whether they want to try medicine or not and I will just do whatever they tell me to do. I mean I'm not a psychologist, I'm paying them for their…

I'd think hard and long before taking medications (personally, I already have, and decided not to). Psychologists have a tendency to overprescribe drugs and you have no idea how that will screw up who you are and what you think. Even if you don't have to pay for those drugs thanks to some healtcare insurance (whether public or private), some money will still flow towards the maker of drugs and that means they have an…

That may have worked will for you, jokethrowaway, but for many of us, it's medication that makes us able to change the other things in our life.

The reality is that the effects of medication have been thoroughly studied, and prescriptions are obsessively managed.

Meds don't work for everyone, but they work reality well for most of us.

---

No lifestyle choice is going to help me manage the chemical imbalance of my brain as effectively as medication does.

Even deeper than that, making an active lifestyle choice, or even any choice at all, is literally the thing my brain is bad at. It's called executive dysfunction, and it's the main symptom of ADHD.

If I have to overcome my ADHD in order to treat my ADHD, then I will never satisfy the circular dependency. Just like I literally cannot pick myself up by my own bootstraps.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#115

Post by Existenceblinks »

MrMan wrote: post #3

this happened to me 10 years ago and there is basically no way back

I'm finding ways back but started to realize this .. it's probably one-way ticket. I think we can't fix it but we may be able to put in more good things to have better ratio.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#116

Post by mgrund »

Been through burnout myself (still recovering, takes a long time).

Look for things that bring you joy (and don’t get carried away). If your body says no, it’s probably not a good fit for you right now.

Being in tech likely means you have skills that are valuable in a lot of jobs that can make you a (possibly smaller) salary. Now is a good time to try out something different. I recommend the book Designing Your Work Life with Bill Burnett.

You can also check out my book with advice based on how I moved on: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDM4JXNR

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#117

Post by knaekhoved »

uncletaco wrote: post #100
lawn wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's standard procedure here in Sweden.

Jealous. I need this because I've been burned out for like a year doing bare minimum and overeating

Have you considered that overeating is possibly exacerbating your issues? I had serious brain fog/energy issues until I stopped being overweight.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#118

Post by notpushkin »

Holy shit doesn't this sound like me. I've quit my job this August because I couldn't work at all, too. Extremely sorry for the following not-really-related rant/oversharing you're about to read.

I think I have ADHD too although I haven't been properly diagnosed. I've been taking Strattera (at some point I've switched to generic atomoxetine) which is the only approved ADHD drug in Russia/CIS, but it only helps sometimes and the side effects are really rough.

When I was living in Tallinn, I've tried to get proper diagnosis, but there weren't any appointments in every clinic I called. Later on my residence permit was revoked, so I'm still suffering on atomo for now I guess.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#119

Post by AH4oFVbPT4f8 »

lnsru wrote: post #27

I have been there too! I was also incapable of working afterwards. All the code was alien to me. Being in the office was a nightmare. I wanted shout and jump through the window! And seeing all the people whose mismanagement let me into this bad post burnout situation was even worse. Corona, my savior, came to me and office was closed. In hid at home and forced myself to do 6 daily pomodoros. That was enough to keep m…

I'm curious if you did your pomodoros at 25minutes or had a different interval.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?

#120

Post by Existenceblinks »

badpun wrote: post #5
monk_e_boy wrote: post #4

A different job? Go travelling for a while? Travelling is a lot of fun and makes you realize that life is short and that you should make the most of it. I changed careers and found the change fun. I may go back to coding at some point, I kinda miss the that deep thinking it requires .... but I can do that in my spare time if I really need to. Or, if you need the money, just phone it in for a while.

> Travelling is a lot of fun and makes you realize that life is short and that you should make the most of it. I never got what was so great about travelling. Whenever I tried doing it, I was almost immediately bored and lonely. It proabably works much better for extraverts.

Yep, I learnt nothing internally rather than oh nice view, strange place, different way of [people] doing things. It doesn't change me even a bit. People claim that they become a better person. I think at least 50% of them were bullshiting.
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