You do sound like you're courting burnout. My question would be, to what extent do you HAVE TO. What people are missing (it seems) is that they're not serious,

You do sound like you're courting burnout. My question would be, to what extent do you HAVE TO. What people are missing (it seems) is that they're not serious, because they don't understand that you HAVE TO, that any other course of action is pretty much impossible. There's your danger sign, right there. It's not even the realistic plausibility of shifting down a gear (and for what? dooming yourself to never be able to run top speed again, who's to say you won't keep doing that, shifting down over and over to no avail, and then be working some shit job at 80 years old, just as miserable, never able to escape?) Did I just do your mental voice there? It's not even the realistic plausibility. It's THAT MENTAL VOICE and the pressure you're putting on, allowing no wavering from the path. I put it to you that it's possible that mental voice is unhealthy and not a reality thing. 'Cos that's the one I had, which is why I can do it on command. But I learned I wasn't being reality-based.