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Ouch. My theory is that it's related to ego depletion. [1] If that's correct, you should find things that you want to do, and do them. Start small. And do you

Ouch. My theory is that it's related to ego depletion. [1] If that's correct, you should find things that you want to do, and do them. Start small. And do your best to not focus on the burnout; focus on what you can enjoy about what you are doing. Look for little victories; I'm convinced that accomplishing things, anything, can help recharge you. I also think social connections can recharge you. Not the kind on Facebook, but the face-to-face kind. Facebook is particularly poisonous because, for the most part, everyone ends up trying to paint a perfect picture of their lives, leaving out most of the down parts. The contrast can make you feel worse. It's also valuable to have a doctor run a standard battery of tests. It might be that you're really low on some important vitamin or mineral. Or that you have high systemic inflammation, which is a cause of everything from heart disease to cancer. (In which case you should eat more fish and/or flax oil.) This is all (unfortunately) from personal experience (vitamin D was very low when they tested me, for instance). I'm feeling like I'm just recovering from burnout right now, in fact. Today was my first really good day in a long time, and that despite working long hours yesterday to get a last feature in. :) Good luck. Hope you can find your way back to happy living soon. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion

jcagalawan 13y ago
It's just the contrast between the person I was not too long ago and the person I am now makes it hard to believe that they're the same person. When I think of the kid who used to tinker around with computers and electronics, I always see him as another person. There's no way that guy would ever find learning a new programming language boring, or find it difficult to get out of bed for classes he was really excited about. I appreciate the post and will try some of the stuff you suggested out. Glad to hear you had your first really good day! This isn't the first time I've felt stuck in a rut and I know how great it is to feel that way. :)
marcosdumay 13y ago
Having goals is helpping me, not self imposed goals, but self diagnosed ones. I try to look into myself and discover something that I'd really like to achieve, then try to achieve it. It makes it easier to bear the kind of activities that burned you out, and it makes it easier to think "well, I don't really like what I'm doing now, but in a few minutes I'll be working towards X". My goals are on the lines of knowing more about a subject, or teaching math to my daughter. I still didn't add any project to there (except for a research one), but I feel I'll be able to do another one soon.

jcagalawan 13y ago

It's just the contrast between the person I was not too long ago and the person I am now makes it hard to believe that they're the same person. When I think of the kid who used to tinker around with computers and electronics, I always see him as another person. There's no way that guy would ever find learning a new programming language boring, or find it difficult to get out of bed for classes he was really excited about. I appreciate the post and will try some of the stuff you suggested out. Glad to hear you had your first really good day! This isn't the first time I've felt stuck in a rut and I know how great it is to feel that way. :)

marcosdumay 13y ago

Having goals is helpping me, not self imposed goals, but self diagnosed ones. I try to look into myself and discover something that I'd really like to achieve, then try to achieve it. It makes it easier to bear the kind of activities that burned you out, and it makes it easier to think "well, I don't really like what I'm doing now, but in a few minutes I'll be working towards X". My goals are on the lines of knowing more about a subject, or teaching math to my daughter. I still didn't add any project to there (except for a research one), but I feel I'll be able to do another one soon.