Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership • Hacker News Board

Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership

#51

Post by comprev » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 11:13 PM UTC

treeman79 wrote: post #25

comprev wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a handful of people who needed time off to recover from burnout - it ranged between 8 weeks to 2 years - depending on if they could convince their Doctor to officially recognise it for government support.

This is key. I was all but completely blind, in bed 18 hours a day in extreme pain, recovering from stokes and various clots. Doctor absolutely would not feel out any paperwork. Claimed that was for specialist. Specialist all claim that was a job for primary. Disability straight up laughed at me. Eventful worked through the worst of it, but wow, it’s shocking how bad doctors can be.

I hope you've recovered to full strength. Burnout (and mental health in general) is not talked about nearly enough.

Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership

#52

Post by mnaei » Wed, Aug 26, 2020, 2:35 AM UTC

zloof wrote: post #40

Really relate to this. I shut down my startup in April. On paper, we ran out of money. Behind the scenes, I finally paid the toll/ burnt out after 1-2 years of constant unexpected, unpredictable shocks. As a solo founder with investors, there was no escape, no one to run things while I took time off, and no way to leave without ending the company. At points, if my phone buzzed with a text message, I would go into a p…

> I’m now reading a book on the impact of trauma on psychology

It would be wonderful if you are able to share the name of the book. I am interested in giving it a read.

Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership

#53

Post by lioeters » Wed, Aug 26, 2020, 9:09 AM UTC

malux85 wrote: post #5

haswell wrote: post #3

As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough. I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my tr…

I have had burnout in the past, and I’m sorry to say 4 weeks is likely not enough. For me it was about 1 year to recover. Sure I could have returned to work after a month or two, because I would no longer have been “exhausted” physically, but going straight back into it would have burnt off that top layer of rest, and still revealed the ruined core within, to truly heal it took a year, then my excitement for programm…

I've also burnt out, a couple times really deeply, in the last decade or so. Everything broke down then, and I ended up taking about a year off, with occasional part-time work to sustain me.

Emotional and psychological trauma have a way of affecting you "forever", skewing who you are inside. I believe it's a life-long practice to learn your own physical and mental limits, to develop a habit of continuous improvement and awareness.

Fortunately, after I came back to the workforce, I eventually found a situation where I can pace myself, take a step or two back as needed, to keep an eye on my mental condition and ensure a smooth, consistent productivity.

Your mention of UBI was surprising in the context of burnout, but it totally makes sense. Not everyone can afford to take time off work, especially for mental health, which is not widely understood, as a "taboo" subject in some cultures.

I barely made it financially through my burn-out recovery, and it would have saved a ton of grief if there was a safety net that ensured at least food and shelter, while I focused on rehabilitation.