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Two things surprised me about burnout: 1. It has physical symptoms. 2. It doesn't go away when you stop. Vacation is good. But two weeks after my vacation I
by coffeefirst 7y ago
Two things surprised me about burnout:
1. It has physical symptoms.
2. It doesn't go away when you stop.
Vacation is good. But two weeks after my vacation I had a rough couple of days, nothing that I couldn't handle before, and I was right back where I started.
I've come to think of it like a mental equivalent of a torn muscle. Recovery takes time—probably far more time than I expect, and if you overexert it, even a little, you'll do a lot more damage a lot faster than you did the first time around.
- rewgs 7y agoThat analogy is spot on. Absolutely the perfect way to look at burnout in my experience.
- singron 7y agoSometimes vacation makes it worse because it makes you realize just how much your job makes you unhappy.
- rzzzt 7y agoI'd like to try and take GP's analogy a bit further: - thermal paste dries out and becomes brittle due to sustained overheat - resulting in bad contact between heatsink and CPU - CPU (returns from vacation and) finds that even small efforts makes core temperature rise quickly, thermal throttles constantly