Ask HN: Are we all burned out?

You are definitely not alone, but it is also dangerous to think of it as an "everyone" problem and not get help for yourself. I can't remember any time in history when there weren't wars, recessions, layoffs or other global or local problems. It helps to not worry too much about things outside of your control and focus on your own life, family, health and happiness.

Yeah, it is life as we (collectively) created it for ourselves.

All the hardships we experience on different parts of the world. We enable it.

We are distancing ourselves from a natural way of life. Gabor Mate implies that indigenous people had a fulfilling life, as they followed their instincts (their needs).

Some of us can afford to benefit from the fruits of cheap labor. We first worlders are aristocrats in a sense, as we are of the "ruling class" to an extent. We don't see the suffering there. Out of sight, out of mind.

When I look at the US and other first world countries, it is an open secret that those who appease the ruling class, will get a pass in their elections[1]. It is really strange that people like Mario Draghi and other ex-Goldman Sachsers get influential positions in state institutions.

The one thing I keep in mind is that, most of us (if not all) have the potential for evil. See also a couple of talks and lectures from Robert Sapolsky.

I don't doubt, for a second, that I would be a Nazi too, if I lived at that time. I am a sheep. Likewise, I have my biases. It is hard to see all of your biases and understand yourself 100%. Let alone understand the thing what we call "reality". We even assume things (e.g., in math, physics), since we can't be 100% sure on anything, it seems. We assume that our experience is "real", and we can't prove it. However, we hold on to that, since it appears sensible and the (current) alternative seems to lead to nowhere. I think, therefore I am. A sensible assumption, I suppose.

However, we exploit not only people from other parts of the world, but we also exploit our own. People working for you in stressful jobs for very low salaries. This happens even in Germany.

Cheap bananas, coffees and labor. We get a taste of aristocracy. Thinking of Naval Ravikant stating that we're relatively well off compared to medieval peasants. However, this is at the expense of other people. It isn't fair. But no one cares, really. Neither do I, which is horrible. I am therefore evil. I am no better than American/European (Goldman Sachsers, Time Warner Company etc.) or Russian oligarchs.

So who am I to criticize others, when I should be criticizing myself?

Really, if they want to nuke the Northern Hemisphere away, what can we do against it? They have the power, we really can't have a significant impact on these decisions[1]. Therefore, out of control, out of mind (i.e., stoicism).

1) https://obrag.org/2015/01/princeton-study-u-s-no-longer-an-a...

While it feels crass to say it, I'm pretty sure we're still enjoying the 'fun debt' experienced by the pan-american natives when they got introduced to European diseases.

By that measure, Russia history should result in it being at least somewhat reasonable soon though, so not sure that's how it works.

Even a video game is probably better. When "browsing" it's scary to realize how quick I am to jump to the next dopamine hit at the first sign of boredom. I'll be half way through a sentence that gets a little boring and then - boom - new tab, new site, new stream of content in less than a second. It's so habitual.

Walking is great for exercise, the physical world still matters. But if you want something in-between, a video game with its ups and downs might work as well. Anything you have to stick with will help.

Life is not a pony farm. Get used to it. As long kids and you are healthy and there is some food on your table it’s alright. Turn off your damn phone. It’s draining your mental health. Leave all your social networks. Leave all your friends and coworkers. There is no reason to be burned out. Find some positive people. A bit is sadness is far from burn out. Recessions come and go. At some age you will attend funeral of friends or family members every year. That’s natural cycle. I started with some shitty job in 2011 because nobody was hiring. Now I have huge mortgage and big corp might close our lame division. Take a walk, take vacation, go to gym and start lifting weights. Spend more time with family. Don’t panic about future, it will come anyway. War will be over and West will continue loosing significance in the world. There are too many things in life one can’t change.