This is a psychological issue, but everything psychological is also physical. It’s all one interconnected system. So please see a doctor and have your bloodwork done. Doing that was the first step to escaping my burnout. I wish I had done it sooner.
I would somewhat caution against this: you're much more likely to get told everything is fine, then be told it's not. And even if you're told it's not, it may not solve any problems: I lost a bunch of weight, got fitter, and deflected myself (so far) off a path to adult-onset diabetes...hasn't helped the burn out at all. These are all good things to have done, but the secret hope of everyone once they walk into the d…
Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
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Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#22The number one trait I have seen in people who are burned out is that they utterly and completely deny they are burned out. They often furiously push back on the idea. "I cannot possibly be burned out, because I have way too much to do," or something less articulate. Admitting you're burned out is the fist step on the path back. It can take years to get back to normal and have passion again. But it will return if you…
When your identity is “person who does this job”, it’s hard to see that you’re doing the job too much.
And even if you do have that realization, it opens up a new struggle to figure out what you’re supposed to do if you’re not doing the job.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m starting to wonder if this problem is more startup related or if big companies have this issue as well. The math for startup employees financially doesn’t make sense anymore anyway and for most probably never did.
I just left Amazon, and the situation is identical at several other companies based on anecdotal evidence from friends, so it's very much a big company issue as well. The biggest problem with many startups I think is workaholic, narcissist founders who don't know how to treat humans like humans. It's generally less procedural and internal competition bullshit than big tech, but more immature management trying to bite…
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#24For me the critical moment was recognizing I had burnout. It happened when I saw this post on HN, whose list of symptoms almost perfectly matched what I was feeling: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/03/29/how-people-fall-ap... I’ve obviously heard of burnout and experienced it before, yet somehow I failed to recognize what was happening until then. So thank you for posting this. Hopefully it’ll help someone out th…
In my hardest semester at college, I wound up spending a somewhat unreasonable amount of time in nature. I would walk 3-5 miles a day and up to 20 miles on the weekend. I had a wetlands preserve across the street (well, highway) from my apartment, and a great state park about 10 minutes away. My workouts got more intense as I was more stressed as well.
It all seemed to balance out and I've been trying to get back to that sort of balance of activities since I graduated.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#25You're not alone, I'm burned out too and tired of every AI-related company expecting engineers to work more than 40 hours a week and nights and weekends, steal scope from teammates, fight for clout, fight for internal resources, on top of dealing with rush hour traffic for some stupid RTO metrics, with stupid-short amounts of vacation time, and expectations to take meetings during vacations. AI was supposed to allow…
I’m starting to wonder if this problem is more startup related or if big companies have this issue as well. The math for startup employees financially doesn’t make sense anymore anyway and for most probably never did.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#26You're not alone, I'm burned out too and tired of every AI-related company expecting engineers to work more than 40 hours a week and nights and weekends, steal scope from teammates, fight for clout, fight for internal resources, on top of dealing with rush hour traffic for some stupid RTO metrics, with stupid-short amounts of vacation time, and expectations to take meetings during vacations. AI was supposed to allow…
I’m starting to wonder if this problem is more startup related or if big companies have this issue as well. The math for startup employees financially doesn’t make sense anymore anyway and for most probably never did.
Personally I’m just curious to see what happens when everyone just gives up. People already feel working hard no longer leads to a better life. (https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/2020-edelman-tr...) Will the management class learn?
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#27But you and others should keep on mind that "burnout" is not a very precise or actionable word and thinking of your current challenges as being products of burnout doesn't give you much traction on what you can do about not feeling well or what external circumstances might help you recover.
Reading between the lines, and trying to be more precise, it sounds like you may have pushed yourself too hard for too long while neglecting essential self-care pracfices.
* You probably weren't resting very well (sleep; low-stimulation idle time).
* You probably weren't eating very well (fresh, nutritious food) and may not have even been preparing food for yourself (cooking).
* You may not have been physically tending to your self (being active, cleaning, dressing) and your space (cleaning, decorating).
* You may not have been keeping up with your relationships (friends, family) and your community (hobby groups, church/etc, light acquaintances).
For most people (and animals) -- when you don't do those things for long enough, it eventually just catches up with you. You're wired to do those things almost every day and the wires short out and things get funky when you ignore them for weeks or months or years as many fall into the habit of doing.
"Burnout" often suggests that the malaise is a product of what you were doing instead when that often isn't even relevant. Presumably, if you're here, the thing you were doing was something you were passionate about (impressing someone, acheiving something) and probably isn't suited for villification anyway.
Rather than just casting everything that feels wrong into the big vague lot of "burnout", try to take a minute to figure out what you were specifically neglecting and then try to get your hands dirty doing those neglected things (even if it's clumsy or slow or whatever in your fog and fatigue).
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m starting to wonder if this problem is more startup related or if big companies have this issue as well. The math for startup employees financially doesn’t make sense anymore anyway and for most probably never did.
I just left Amazon, and the situation is identical at several other companies based on anecdotal evidence from friends, so it's very much a big company issue as well. The biggest problem with many startups I think is workaholic, narcissist founders who don't know how to treat humans like humans. It's generally less procedural and internal competition bullshit than big tech, but more immature management trying to bite…
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#29Interestingly, while chronic sleep deprivation is harmful, studies show that a single night of sleep deprivation can have a rapid, temporary antidepressant effect in 40-60% of people with depression. I tried this after burning out on my third startup, and it helped me short-term when I needed it most. You can read more about the research Penn Medicine ( https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2017/septemb...…
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#30By the way, this isn't a "when the going gets tough" sort-of post, I'm just stating the reality of life.