Fowl's Garden

Powered by 🌱Roam Garden

How do we avoid burnout?

This article is choke-full of survivor-bias. I don't think even experts have a definite answer to this question. There are 'best practices.' But that's pretty much all I know about burnout. And I'm almost a Doctor.

Mental Strength

Some people are just more naturally resilient compared to the rest of us. I am not in that category. I stress a lot and I suffer from anxiety. The reason I can now cope with stress is because I've somehow learned to compartmentalize my life and reduce stressors to a minimum.

But, you might not need any real advice here based on who you are. I have friends who are just really good at ignoring the world. They do their own thing and fuck everything else. They are very stoic, in this regard. If you own that mindset, I don't think you are going to cause yourself a burnout out of simple stress. Some people are just supernaturally good at dealing with shit. I'd peg it to a very low amount of neuroticism.

Neuroticism, from the Big Five article, Wikipedia: Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, or depression. It is sometimes called emotional instability, or is reversed and referred to as emotional stability.

There are many tests out there you can take it to estimate your 'big five' traits of personality. I found it very interesting. But if you suffer from very high neuroticism, which might be more common among women, I'd say that the best coping techniques are role-playing scenarios with a clinical psychologist. Again, this is not medical advice. This is my own knowledge at the behest of my survivor-bias.

I did not have therapy sessions even though I'm pretty much in the middle of the spectrum for neuroticism. I simply had a lot of shit to deal with that provided me with real life examples of how I should have played some of my cards.

If you are interested in this, you probably want to read I almost became a big shot in 2017, in Italy.

I honestly don’t have much advice that you could benefit from. If you are not good at ignoring stuff and coping, build a better support net; stay away from toxic positivity and negativity; consult professionals; try to understand your mind better. And my best advice is try multiple times in different ways. Go hard at stuff. Don’t half-ass the foundation of your mental strength. Don’t skip milestones. Fight for each fiber of your being so that they can become stronger.