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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

#241

Post by mrmetanoia »

burningChrome wrote: post #38

Early on in my career (I was a late bloomer and already in early 30's) as a developer, I got burnt out pretty bad twice. After the second time and teetering on a third, I knew I had to do something to change what I was doing and how I managed my work load. I just focused on getting MY stuff done and that was it. I stopped taking on other's people work. I stopped taking on more work once I got my stuff done. I would d…

You really do have to protect yourself. I think at some point I felt like if I set boundaries I'd get fired, then I realized if I didn't set boundaries I'd go insane which seemed worse than fired so I started telling people "no," and logging off on time. It's been an improvement.

"Will the fight for our sanity, be the fight of our lives?" - flaming lips

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#242

Post by mrmetanoia »

ethanol-brain wrote: post #240

I have burned out at least 10 times in my career. The last time, it was like I lost half a decade, even though it didn't last quite that long. It was as if I had amnesia. I fell into a deep depression. I considered killing myself just because everything seemed so difficult and pointless. Give yourself some more time. You might not emerge exactly as who you remember, but its possible to mostly recover from the pretty…

It really is a difficult thing to heal and a difficult thing to know when you've healed. Same with grief. And you're right it takes - relative to our lifespan - a rather long time to start to see yourself again.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#245

Post by madmask »

astura wrote: post #230
ein0p wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re worried about the “gap”, don’t be. In my experience it doesn’t matter nearly as much as people believe. And don’t worry about your “career”. It’s basically all bullshit anyway.

This comment makes no sense. Your ability to provide for yourself and your family isn't "basically bullshit," and filing for short term disability doesn't leave a gap on your resume.

Career as playing the game and climbing the ladder is bullshit. One can provide without a “career”.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#246

Post by gosub100 »

gnulinux wrote: post #128
VonGuard wrote: post #5

The 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…

This is a very naive take. There are people who live paycheck to paycheck with the threat of homelessness. They can't just "accept" they have burnout, they have to work as if they don't just like any other person. I myself had a brutal burnout recently (hopefully recovering now slowly) but it was very difficult because I work on a visa and I can't afford to take a break or PTO etc. Yes I "accepted" that I'm burned ou…

Its not "naive" to limit the scope or infer what the limited scope is, in this case it's tech workers. We aren't under contract to account for everyone else who is on a visa (that they chose to undertake) or works a low wage job. The comment is correct for an implied subset of the population.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#247

Post by wruza »

Burnt out badly in 2022, empty tank, few “can’t get up” episodes. It took six months and one trouble only to find a stable point in my mind, but recovering didn’t even start then. I’m almost two years floating free (thank myself being smart with money) and am even trying a couple activities this year, but it takes time to replace the broken parts.

All, ymmw, but take note you may not recover from it by simply taking a vacation.

Btw, distancing didn’t work for me. It was the opposite, I couldn’t work in an env that couldn’t care less as a whole.

Another note is that eat, shit and sleep system is in a strong feedback loop with all that.

Also, I was alone most of my life and fine with it, but living with a relative suddenly changed a few things that I can’t explain. Simple human presence shifts something, although I’m not craving for it and find it burdensome in general.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#248

Post by sfmz »

I was doing a startup with a high achiever, I estimate ~160 IQ or higher; he worked 7 days a week, at least 12 hours a day, but often 16 for at least 20 years. He was a step-change smarter than me; PhD in Chem E. from top school, brilliant computer scientist... the only time I saw him relax is once he played Sonic the Hedgehog for like 10 hours straight. He fried his motherboard... his wife texted me one day... he's in a coma... 12 days later he emerges from the hospital with amenesia... that was years ago, still has amensia, can't create new long-term memories, can't work, etc.

One thing that helped me during burnout is reading biographies, idk why it helped, but I'm passing it forward.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#249

Post by badpun »

acdha wrote: post #238
badpun wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was part of our culture before Christianity emerged, it remained part of the culture afterwards. Seems like Christianity didn’t have much to do with it.

It wasn’t “our” culture unless you still live in the Bronze Age but I’d think of it more as a historical artifact which was preserved in part due to reinforcement based on that religious text. If Christianity did not give that text special significance you wouldn’t have millions of people saying they _must_ continue the practice.

Culture is a continuity that builds upon the past - in that sense it's our culture. Also, I've never ever heard anyone say that wives need to take names of their husbands, because the Bible says so. Is that an American thing?

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#250

Post by olyjohn »

Carrok wrote: post #133
gk1 wrote: post #9

For 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…

This article really hit home for me as well. But this sentence leaves me in possibly more distress than before reading the article. > The Cornell study found that after a month of reduced stress, these effects disappeared. I do not believe I will ever be able to experience “a month of reduced stress” until the day I die. But maybe that’s just the burnout talking.

I am burnt out from work currently and am in the recovery process now. I told my work I was taking a leave of absence, and used my short term disability insurance to be able to afford the time off. If your company or state offers it, please take it. I am protected by FMLA laws so they can't lay me off while I'm gone. My therapist recommends that I stay out of work up to 3 months. I'm on week 2 and it's already taken a huge weight off of me.
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