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You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

neilthanedar.com

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Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#191

Post by em-bee »

isodev wrote: post #178
macintux wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number is still rising but the growth rate is plummeting. https://assets.ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/03/ourworldin...

It’s a trend and it’s slowing down not plummeting. And even if it is, there are already more of us than we know how to sustain. The problem at hand is not growth rate slowing down, it’s humans divided in tiny pockets of countries burning through what little we have left of natural resources. People who have kids today, do so knowing that their children will most certainly be displaced by natural disasters.

there are already more of us than we know how to sustain

what is the evidence for that? if that were true then we would have lot's of people going hungry, but that's simply not the case. poverty is getting reduced world wide. if we could not sustain the current population, we should have lots of people dying from hunger and the population should stop growing. but the reason why population is growing especially in africa is exactly because the growth is still sustainable. if it wasn't, then it could not be growing.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#192

Post by nubg »

asdff wrote: post #146
tverbeure wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you totally love doing what you do at work and, after spending a week at the beach, you can’t wait to go back because you’re so close to solving that interesting problem you’ve been working on for more than a month.

There is danger to that as well. Work can be an addiction. It is often solitary and removes you from focus on your actual self, friends, family, or community, in favor of "the work."

I'm in exactly this place. Looking for help (books) to get out. Care to reend anything?

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#193

Post by nubg »

asdff wrote: post #144
justchad wrote: post #2

This resonates with me right now. I helped build a unicorn startup over the last 10 years but feel empty and burnt out when I’m working now. I feel like I’m wasting my time in exchange for a paycheck. I recently turned in my notice, I’m going on sabbatical. I’m hoping to find my passion and follow that. Finding that is something I’m struggling with though. Anyways, great article!

My advice would be to keep up with a schedule that still keeps you pretty busy and ideally waking up early at regular hours. Once you hit actual rock bottom burn out, you know sleeping in until noon and scrolling message boards for three hours before you realized you haven't eaten yet all day and the sun is already setting, it feels almost impossible to turn the switch back on when you need to. Even something like fo…

Relating to my other comment under your post, I feel like I am becoming this. I urgently need to stop it and am looking for books on this topics.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#194

Post by em-bee »

dheera wrote: post #189
em-bee wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i agree with most of your points, especially the reduction of work hours, but cost is not the issue that keeps people from having kids. it's actually the reverse. the more money people have, the less likely they have kids. the problem is lifestyle and career demands.

I think it's also because high middle class earners are financially smart (don't buy things if they don't have the money), AND health-smart (realize their body's needs, including sleep) so they choose logically not to have kids, because they do not have the resources for it, and will not sacrifice their own well-being just to have kids. The upper class is financially smart, AND has the resources (20+ years of child r…

The lower class is often not financially smart, is not health smart, and systematically poisoned to buy things they cannot afford, including kids, so they have kids.

i don't believe that is true.

raising kids is not that expensive. what is expensive is the high expectations for what you should spend on your kids with that middle class and high earners have. like sending kids to college.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#195

Post by Aeglaecia »

justchad wrote: post #2

This resonates with me right now. I helped build a unicorn startup over the last 10 years but feel empty and burnt out when I’m working now. I feel like I’m wasting my time in exchange for a paycheck. I recently turned in my notice, I’m going on sabbatical. I’m hoping to find my passion and follow that. Finding that is something I’m struggling with though. Anyways, great article!

damn bro having a billion dollar company and your own family must be so tough to deal with , happy to take them off your hands if you want to feel the drive to live again ;)

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#196

Post by yoan9224 »

The premise is interesting but feels incomplete. The "Monday morning excitement test" doesn't account for the hedonic treadmill - even meaningful work becomes mundane once your brain adjusts to it.

Also, many people are genuinely burnt out from overwork, not just existential malaise. When you're juggling demanding work, family responsibilities, and barely have time for basic self-care, the problem isn't finding your "highest purpose" - it's structural.

That said, I agree that meaning matters. But meaning doesn't always come from work. Sometimes the healthiest thing is treating work as necessary fuel for a meaningful life outside of it - relationships, hobbies, community involvement.

The "go into politics" solution is fascinating though. Zero-sum games as existential fulfillment feels counterintuitive.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#197

Post by coip »

tverbeure wrote: post #65
QGQBGdeZREunxLe wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was hooked by the first few paragraphs but the immediate switch to focus on work was disappointing. The happiest people I know treat work like the necessary evil to be endured to fulfill all other facets of life.

Or you totally love doing what you do at work and, after spending a week at the beach, you can’t wait to go back because you’re so close to solving that interesting problem you’ve been working on for more than a month.

Ah, to have any real amount of time to work on something. Sounds surreal.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#199

Post by selcuka »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #115
Aurornis wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a lot of people who DoorDash, have groceries delivered, have a house cleaner, and call a contractor for every small thing that needs to be done. They’re buying time. It’s never quite as much time as expected, though. Each is a marginal addition of free time that brings its own complications (like my friend who did an alarming amount of DoorDash and is now investing a lot of time into dropping weight and managi…

It's not about buying time though, it's about what you do with the bought time. I see a lot of people using these expensive services and then wasting the extra time - or worse, filling time while they wait for the completion.

Time is time. If one values doing nothing more than doing house chores, then they are buying time by paying a cleaner.

It is about spending your time doing what you want (including doing nothing if that's your thing), and outsource the things that you don't want to do.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#200

Post by heyjamesknight »

yoan9224 wrote: post #196

The premise is interesting but feels incomplete. The "Monday morning excitement test" doesn't account for the hedonic treadmill - even meaningful work becomes mundane once your brain adjusts to it. Also, many people are genuinely burnt out from overwork, not just existential malaise. When you're juggling demanding work, family responsibilities, and barely have time for basic self-care, the problem isn't finding your…

Hedonic treadmill only applies to hedonia, not the eudaimonia that meaningful work typically brings. “Doing well” doesn’t have the same elastic snap back that “being well” does, and there’s some evidence it can provide a buffer on the hedonic treadmill effect.
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