by verisimilidude on 9/25/16, 11:34 PM
I spent several years in my mid-twenties working like the author, pretty much non-stop. At the lowest point, I fell into a weird sleep pattern: I'd crash as soon as I got home around 6:00 in the evening, then wake up around midnight and be back at work by 1:00 am.
It took an old friend's suicide to jolt me out of it. I saw a lot of my old buddies at the funeral and started reestablishing those friendships. We played a lot of video games. Xbox Live probably saved my life. The worst thing about overwork is that it becomes difficult to imagine yourself doing anything else when you're in the thick of it, like it doesn't even occur to you that you should be spending your time elsewhere; I wonder if any of you have experienced this. Thankfully, even something as inconsequential as Halo was enough to help me rearrange my priorities.
by gerbilly on 9/26/16, 12:21 PM
I've been thinking about this lately and I've concluded that a big driver of overwork is the misguided quest for fulfillment.
Not really fulfillment like we normally call it, I'd say more like acceptance.
Perhaps many of us are seeking love and acceptance from bosses and coworkers, and overworking ourselves to obtain it.
I believe that building your identity on anything that isn't yours is stressful. Building your ego on your job performance or on the positive feedback you get from coworkers isn't healthy.
It's like emotional sharecropping. You are building your ego on someone else's land.
People need to remember that work is the place where they have "human resource" departments, where they will make cut and dried decisions on who to retain and who to lay off the moment they want to adjust a budget.
by cesarbs on 9/26/16, 2:01 AM
I'm 28 and have severe hypochondria, so this article was a terrifying read. Having a stroke is my #1 fear. But reading it makes me feel good about having shifted my attitude to work after I got married. I don't think I'll ever be the workaholic that I was in my early 20s, because my priorities have shifted so much after getting married and I've become especially frightened of the idea of stressing myself out to the point of suffering something like a stroke. The last thing I want in my life is to burden my wife with having to take care of a disabled me.
In fact, I don't think it's only work that can lead to bad health issues caused by stress. I have my whole routine designed to have a low stress life. I avoid bringing in anything into my life that might be a major source of stress. I keep everything as simple as possible.
On the symptoms side of things though, I now have to go to the doctor. Again. Reading about the buzzing in the right eye and the tingling was terrifying because I've been feeling something similar for the past few months. So onto my 4th brain scan in the past few years... Sigh. Hypochondria is a bitch.
by tluyben2 on 9/26/16, 1:45 AM
Same experience in the early 2000s at 28; worked like a maniac in a fast growing company (co founded by myself); we had huge clients and made bucket loads of money (Deloitte fast 50 for years) but we were understaffed as our hiring did not keep up with the growth: I worked 7 days, 8 to 10 and usually more after getting home. I came in one monday went to the toilet when suddenly my arm fell down next to me, I stumbled, remember a crackling sound in my head and not much more after that until many hours later in the hospital. Unlike OP, I had to spend 1 week (esp the first 24 hours as they are crucial) for observation and tests in a special stroke ward. They could not find any cause. I know there is not much proof for the stress having to do much with stroke or high bloodpressure but I am sure that was the cause anyway. I remember that choking feeling of thats stress and pressure. I packed up and moved to Spain with my wife; started working sane hours from home.
To be clear: number of working hours have not much to do with stress levels: I sometimes still work long hours but since I never felt anything like that kind of pressure I had then. And I never will; it was silly and unproductive but as my first big company and successful startup (which gave me financial freedom early on), I did not have many history to fall back on and the advice around me was of a 'do not stress so much' kind of unhelpful level.
It took me years to get over the anxiety of getting another stroke and my speech is still not what it was before; I cannot pronounce some English words correctly even though I know how to and used to be able to. But it does not impair my life or work: people seem to like that Dutch English accent while my previous English was more perfect.
by hourislate on 9/25/16, 10:31 PM
I gave way too much to more than one job when I was young. As I transitioned into my 30's I began to think very differently about work. It wasn't my #1 priority anymore. By the time I coasted into my 40's I was just looking for somewhere I could become a number and disappear. A good paying Corporate job or contracting.I like environments where a huge bureaucracy exists to slow things down. Ride it out to retirement. It's working out well for me. Don't have a lot of piss and vinegar left. Like to enjoy my family, my cars, travel, quiet times. I can piddle a whole day away just messing around in the garage and it feels so rewarding. I think it is the Spanish who have a saying....."It's nice to relax after a day of doing nothing".
by infodroid on 9/26/16, 10:19 AM
It's sad that the author effectively blames himself for overworking and the resulting stroke. It might be the more socially-acceptable explanation, but there is more to it than that. He wouldn't be clocking 70 hours a week and bearing "self-imposed tortures", while ignoring the symptoms of exhaustion, unless his peers and the wider society rewarded it, as part of a self-destructive feedback loop. And we are all complicit in it, since we keep praising people who successfully "hustled ... up the chain of command", "managed to survive layoffs", and are now "leading development and marketing for a team" after only a few months. Overworking is nothing to celebrate and it shouldn't be a role model for anyone. We shouldn't reward this behavior when we encounter it.
by f_allwein on 9/25/16, 11:11 PM
by randomacct44 on 9/26/16, 12:28 AM
What the?
"When I was discharged from the hospital late the next day, the cabdriver asked me, “Where do I take you?” I couldn’t remember the name of my street. I handed him the discharge paperwork with my address on it, arrived home and slept for a long while."
How does someone who just had a stroke get discharged from hospital the next day, to a taxi?
by WhitneyLand on 9/26/16, 2:43 AM
Related info:
Compared to people with the lowest psychological scores, those with highest scores were:
86 percent more likely to have a stroke or TIA for high depressive symptoms.
59 percent more likely to have a stroke or TIA for the highest chronic stress scores.
More than twice as likely to have a stroke or TIA for the highest hostility scores.
http://newsroom.heart.org/news/high-stress-hostility-depress...
by jdimov10 on 9/26/16, 9:27 AM
Don't make time to untangle. Stay untangled. Live your life. Enjoy it. Have fun. If you have any time left after that, then may be do some of that inconsequential stuff like earning money or achievements. These are nice, if you enjoy doing them, but are not important. Unlike what you've been brainwashed to believe, your life does not depend on those things. Your well-being does not depend on those things. The well-being of your family and children does not depend on those things. It's the other way around.
by sotojuan on 9/26/16, 2:40 AM
Many people in this thread lamenting overworking in their youth. Maybe I've been lucky but at 22 I'm very happy with my decent 9-5 type employments. I've never felt the ambition necessary to sacrifice my free time for work—I'm satisfied with what I have.
by Animats on 9/26/16, 2:58 AM
"Being so young, I had not even considered that having a stroke was a possibility. But I have since learned that they are on the rise among younger people."Uh oh. Does anybody keep stats for YC companies?
by coldtea on 9/26/16, 10:41 AM
>
My doctor did not directly link my stroke to overwork, but said it could have been aggravated by stress, overexertion and exhaustion.Could he put it any more directly?
by agumonkey on 9/26/16, 2:47 PM
I had an accident that led to cardiovascular / brain issues that reminded me of this, although less critical at first, but lingering. Since I do not need to be hospitalized, I could reflect on it, and it was like knowing how it felt to be handicaped, suffering debilitating diseases or even what old age could feel. It sheds a strong light on the life of others and yours, how fragile health can be. That said it's also sad how impossible it is to know this beforehand (if you're between child and old, many doctors will just handwave over some symptoms).
by BigJeffeRonaldo on 9/27/16, 12:20 AM
It's not complicated to understand. If you work hard, you need rest. Your body, if you don't derange her with stimulant drinks and cocaine, she will tell you, "I need to rest!" So just listen! It's not that hard. Just listen to your grandma instead of being a techno nerd who drinks red bull until he is deranged with permanently lowered IQ from sleep deprivation and a weird disease. If you work hard, you need a rest.
by princetontiger on 9/26/16, 1:20 AM
This article is crazy.