Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

news.ycombinator.com

131–140 of 361 posts

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#131
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're burnt out. We've all been there. Focus on yourself to get better. As far as work, break tasks down AS SMALL AS POSSIBLE. Do a portion and pat yourself on the back. You'll be able to build up from there. Part of burnout is seeing a wall of work and your body/mind having an adverse reaction to it. You need smaller portions to get back on the horse.

oh yeah, keep feeding the grinder, never stop feeding the grinder or else.

We all need to be able to make a living, whether it's software engineering, wood working, or day dreaming (if you can get paid for that).

In general life is about getting big things done. Whether it's raising a kid, bagging 20 tons of groceries, wiring a house, or shipping 2M lines of code.

The point being made is how to do that sustainably.

Don't be a curmudgeon.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#132

I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…

Could it be that your job just bores you and you need to do something else?

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#133

I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…

> wtf are we working for when we could be living?

I try to find a balance. I computed based on diminishing returns of income wrt. life expectancy (possibly with a vast error) that the optimal amount I should be working is 2h/d (if I never retire).

Going over that means I'll be able to retire, and going too much (>4h/day) means my life is prolonged increasingly just for work. So only do this if you are crazy about work.

Going below means I'll have to make some sacrifices.

I am thankful for my employer accepting such terms (a variable number of few hours).

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#135

I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…

> It might be rooted in the fact that I don't have kids As a parent: nope, it's definitely not that. Yes, having children is a rich and beautiful experience. It's also a ruthless grind. So, if you think you're feeling lethargic and it's all a bit futile, imagine doing everything you do now, but also arguing with a smaller, more annoying version of yourself for a couple of decades while sleep deprived, and with 1/4 of…

Holy Shit! This is me exactly except for the decades in start ups, I've never worked in start ups. Also, I'm not stuttering but I do stop in the middle of a sentence and can't finish it. That has been happening for quite a few years.

I never heard the term "executive dysfunction" and always used the term "paralysis by analysis". I'm currently learning Common Lisp and very excited about it, but when it comes to doing any sort of actual programming for my own personal reasons (whatever that is) I have a hard time working on it. That is regardless of what PL I use.

If I have two things that I want to do, say Thing-A and Thing-B, when I work on A my mind says I'd rather work on B and when I am working on B I'd rather be doing A. It is a vicious cycle.

And as a parent I agree that kids would not help the OP situation.

I recently switched jobs (Aug 22) to a huge health care org. The work has way more purpose than my old programming job but I still feel like I am missing something.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#136

I’ve had two breakdowns. The first was out of the blue and had no real immediate cause. It left me with a perennial feeling of anxiety, paranoia and depression that lasted almost 8 years. It was only fixed with medication - a 3 month course of SSRIs that miraculously brought my back to my old self almost immediately. The second breakdown was precipitated by medication - withdrawals from Gabapentin, a medication presc…

When you understand how our chemistry, our diet & our environment influences our conscious self including past experiences you may have forgotten, you'll probably have a better understanding of why things occur. If you look at the Tryptophan pathway, SSRI's can be viewed like some sort of (SQL, XSS, Code) injection attack, influencing your chemistry and your emotions in other ways which may have given you a short term boost, but may not have addressed the underlying cause.

Monotherapy's are simple to use much like A/B testing, but time consuming, a type of resource burn for intelligence gathering, but its the best on offer for most.

Keeping a diary, paying attention to your diet, your life, identifying what you like and dont like, what you want to achieve can help but be mindful your chemistry will influence those thoughts. Think back to when you were a child and the things you wanted then and what you want now, they will be different because your chemistry has changed.

The medical profession recognise how chemistry influences our thoughts because SSRI's exist as have MAOI's as a first generation anti depressant, but their primary application as an anti depressant may not always be the intended purpose as the tryptophan pathway can highlight.

You see this with Gabapentin, nerve pain, could be a symptom of diabetic neuropathy. Only the Germans use alpha-lipoic acid as a medicine for diabetic neuropathy according to some online sources. The only sugar the immune system does not attack is starch. Manganese is also related to diabetes. Likewise too much B6 can cause auto immune diseases as can sodium (Th 17 cells) and highlight weaknesses in your body which need addressing, which could be your nervous system, the myelin sheath (histidine).

You dont say if you are male or female, but histidine is concentrated in the chest of males, religions have identified this as the missionary position for enjoyable exercise, which is why we don't eat Roosters, only feminised meat with the exception of beef in the West unless that's also come from dairy stock. From a meta data point of view, males strutting their chest are exhibiting their histidine levels in plain sight, just like grey hair can exhibit tyrosine deficiency and freckles on a kids face exhibits a healthy tyrosine balance amongst other things.

The body is a complex chemical reaction and whilst science attempts to understand it, its limited in a number of ways and shouldn't be seen as a panacea, when history and religion also has much metadata to offer.

For example diabetes, first documented 600 years bc in Persia (Iran), still not addressed in any meaningful way, a useful stealth weapon operating in plain sight, the sugar in a can of coke can reduce testosterone levels by 25% in teenage males as one example to control known threats in society. Religions also use their teachings to control populations, Ramadan, no food or fluids during daylight hours, lack of fluid increase blood sugar levels, increases the chances of followers developing pre-diabetes or diabetes, ergo males controlled as their intelligence increases.

Every system of control, beit religion, govt have stealth ways to control people and using health is just one of those ways which is why I say keep a diary and have an open mind. No one chemical does one thing in the body.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#137

Sometimes this can be a sign you need to put more energy into the spiritual side of your life. Many people find faith important to their mental well being. As society has abandoned its religious foundation, mental illness has increased. Perhaps psychosis is the mind’s way of saying, there’s more to all this.

Other people, like me, need maximum distance to everything faithy and religious to stay mentally healthy and sane. Believers make me inherently nervous and restless.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#138

I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…

> wtf are we working for when we could be living? I try to find a balance. I computed based on diminishing returns of income wrt. life expectancy (possibly with a vast error) that the optimal amount I should be working is 2h/d (if I never retire). Going over that means I'll be able to retire, and going too much (>4h/day) means my life is prolonged increasingly just for work. So only do this if you are crazy about wor…

Interesting, I've also found 4h/day to be the a good average.

Key word there is average though, some days it feels more like doing 2h or none, other days with a (rare) interesting problem it can spiral to like 10h too. The typical full time job fixed work hours are just so too damn rigid.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#139
I didn't have a psychotic break but I had what could be considered a nervous breakdown. I couldn't comprehend anything I read. I could barely think. I didn't have the motivation to do anything but the bare minimum each day. I learned how to fake my condition with my family, but when alone I may as well have been typing "all work and no play..." on a typewriter all day because I was long gone.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#140
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It might be rooted in the fact that I don't have kids As a parent: nope, it's definitely not that. Yes, having children is a rich and beautiful experience. It's also a ruthless grind. So, if you think you're feeling lethargic and it's all a bit futile, imagine doing everything you do now, but also arguing with a smaller, more annoying version of yourself for a couple of decades while sleep deprived, and with 1/4 of…

Holy Shit! This is me exactly except for the decades in start ups, I've never worked in start ups. Also, I'm not stuttering but I do stop in the middle of a sentence and can't finish it. That has been happening for quite a few years. I never heard the term "executive dysfunction" and always used the term "paralysis by analysis". I'm currently learning Common Lisp and very excited about it, but when it comes to doing…

I know it as "analysis paralysis".
Post reply on HN