11–20 of 104 posts
What the? "When I was discharged from the hospital late the next day, the cabdriver asked me, “Where do I take you?” I couldn’t remember the name of my street. I handed him the discharge paperwork with my address on it, arrived home and slept for a long while." How does someone who just had a stroke get discharged from hospital the next day, to a taxi?
I gave way too much to more than one job when I was young. As I transitioned into my 30's I began to think very differently about work. It wasn't my #1 priority anymore. By the time I coasted into my 40's I was just looking for somewhere I could become a number and disappear. A good paying Corporate job or contracting.I like environments where a huge bureaucracy exists to slow things down. Ride it out to retirement.…
This is what a lot of 25 year olds who say "I can't imagine ever not working, not learning new stuff" don't understand. Of course they can't imagine it. I couldn't either when I was 25. But when you're 50, you can really feel like there are better things to do than work your ass off for someone else's benefit or entertainment.
What the? "When I was discharged from the hospital late the next day, the cabdriver asked me, “Where do I take you?” I couldn’t remember the name of my street. I handed him the discharge paperwork with my address on it, arrived home and slept for a long while." How does someone who just had a stroke get discharged from hospital the next day, to a taxi?
I spent several years in my mid-twenties working like the author, pretty much non-stop. At the lowest point, I fell into a weird sleep pattern: I'd crash as soon as I got home around 6:00 in the evening, then wake up around midnight and be back at work by 1:00 am. It took an old friend's suicide to jolt me out of it. I saw a lot of my old buddies at the funeral and started reestablishing those friendships. We played…
I spent about 4 years working flat out. If I was awake I was working, trying to keep the income coming after the recession hit. Then something snapped. The now ex-wife had to unwind the things I was part way through.
Since then I can't do anything productive. I spend all the time wasting time with tv, games and online. Or often literally just nothing. If I try and do something productive like finding work again, or even simple like tidying the house I seize up with a mental resistance I find hard to describe. The more effort and willpower, the more the resistance increases. Even if I get started I've dropped out to go back to doing nothing within 10 minutes. Most days start with a resolution and to do list, but end with another day wasted. It's wrecked my career, relationship and social life.
I've been to a few doctors, but I've never gotten anything even a bit helpful.
What the? "When I was discharged from the hospital late the next day, the cabdriver asked me, “Where do I take you?” I couldn’t remember the name of my street. I handed him the discharge paperwork with my address on it, arrived home and slept for a long while." How does someone who just had a stroke get discharged from hospital the next day, to a taxi?
Welcome to America.
To be clear: number of working hours have not much to do with stress levels: I sometimes still work long hours but since I never felt anything like that kind of pressure I had then. And I never will; it was silly and unproductive but as my first big company and successful startup (which gave me financial freedom early on), I did not have many history to fall back on and the advice around me was of a 'do not stress so much' kind of unhelpful level.
It took me years to get over the anxiety of getting another stroke and my speech is still not what it was before; I cannot pronounce some English words correctly even though I know how to and used to be able to. But it does not impair my life or work: people seem to like that Dutch English accent while my previous English was more perfect.
What the? "When I was discharged from the hospital late the next day, the cabdriver asked me, “Where do I take you?” I couldn’t remember the name of my street. I handed him the discharge paperwork with my address on it, arrived home and slept for a long while." How does someone who just had a stroke get discharged from hospital the next day, to a taxi?
I wish I had forked out the cash for international health insurance, the largest package, before I had a stroke, but I did not as I felt nothing would happen to me. Now that I live in another country and I travel a lot, I get bitten by that naivity a lot. I would recommend, if you are healthy and have enough $ to take an international health insurance package as you will never know what happens.
In fact, I don't think it's only work that can lead to bad health issues caused by stress. I have my whole routine designed to have a low stress life. I avoid bringing in anything into my life that might be a major source of stress. I keep everything as simple as possible.
On the symptoms side of things though, I now have to go to the doctor. Again. Reading about the buzzing in the right eye and the tingling was terrifying because I've been feeling something similar for the past few months. So onto my 4th brain scan in the past few years... Sigh. Hypochondria is a bitch.
I'm 28 and have severe hypochondria, so this article was a terrifying read. Having a stroke is my #1 fear. But reading it makes me feel good about having shifted my attitude to work after I got married. I don't think I'll ever be the workaholic that I was in my early 20s, because my priorities have shifted so much after getting married and I've become especially frightened of the idea of stressing myself out to the p…
I really hope you find a way to handle this that doesn't involve very expensive reassurance from doctors. I experience something very similar when I read about heart conditions; I go into a spiral of anxiety where I believe my heart is failing, even though countless doctors have assured me that I'm perfectly fine there. Isn't the human brain just a ton of fun?