Anyone ever experience burnout?

[Pogue]

Originally Posted by scho63

I can speak to this with first hand knowledge and action I took:

I was making $115-125,000 working 75-80 hours a week while living in Northern Virginia. I became burnt out, fat, tired and no direction.

I quit my job to the shock of everyone, gave away everything I owned minus my summer clothes and some personal momentos that would fit in my car.

I drove to Scottsdale AZ in March 2017 with no job, no place to live, no family or friends here.

I found an incredible place to live, took 6 months off, went to the gym everyday and lost 80 pounds.

I spent the rest of the time by the pool in the sun relaxing or chilling out.

I also did volunteer work raising money for Foster children.

One of the greatest decisions of my life.

That is a ballsy move. Sounds like the movie Larry Crowne, except he was forced to make changes, sell all of his shit and move.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

Originally Posted by scho63

I can speak to this with first hand knowledge and action I took:

I was making $115-125,000 working 75-80 hours a week while living in Northern Virginia. I became burnt out, fat, tired and no direction.

I quit my job to the shock of everyone, gave away everything I owned minus my summer clothes and some personal momentos that would fit in my car.

I drove to Scottsdale AZ in March 2017 with no job, no place to live, no family or friends here.

I found an incredible place to live, took 6 months off, went to the gym everyday and lost 80 pounds.

I spent the rest of the time by the pool in the sun relaxing or chilling out.

I also did volunteer work raising money for Foster children.

One of the greatest decisions of my life.

That's awesome. I remember when you did that and it's cool that it worked out so well for you.

Did something very similar. Owned an insurance brokerage in Tempe over a decade ago. Represented 27 different insurance companies and specialized in health insurance. Became disillusioned when I ended up spending more time at the AZ Dept. of Insurance fighting on behalf of my clients against the companies I repped than I spent generating new business. I can sell ice cubes to eskimos if I believe in the product, but I'm the world's worst salesman if I don't. Just couldn't do it anymore once I lost confidence in the companies I was repping.

Sold my entire book of business to another big brokerage, had garage sales on a weekly basis until I sold everything I owned except for what would fit into 2 suitcases, sold my crib and moved to San Jose Costa Rica - where I knew absolutely no one. Got a job with BetOnSports.com, an "offshore" casino which was the world's biggest online sports book at the time. Had so, so much fun. Had a cool place, met a bunch of cool friends, had a little 90lb dancer chick named Maria move in with me, and just partied my freaking ass off. Almost had too much fun, though. Costa Rica was a little too close to Columbia/Bolivia/Peru for my own good.

Living abroad - especially in a country that has the caliber of female Costa Rica has - is something I can't recommend highly enough. For me it was absolutely life-changing. Very liberating to realize that the only barriers in your life are the ones you create. You can do anything and go anywhere if you want it bad enough and you put your mind to it.

Planned on being down there for at least 4 years unless I got a sweet job offer in the Denver/Boulder area. It was the only place in the US that I would've left San Jose for. Eventually got a job offer from Wells Fargo in Denver and the rest is history. Wouldn't change a moment of the entire experience, though. Changed my life in so many ways. Mainly just the knowledge that I can do anything I put my mind to, and that your past does not equal your future.

Here's where I worked in Costa Rica, and I was there for the Pussycat Dolls party. Lots of cocaine and loose, gorgeous women down there...

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHammersticks

That's awesome. I remember when you did that and it's cool that it worked out so well for you.

Did something very similar. Owned an insurance brokerage in Tempe over a decade ago. Represented 27 different insurance companies and specialized in health insurance. Became disillusioned when I ended up spending more time at the AZ Dept. of Insurance fighting on behalf of my clients against the companies I repped than I spent generating new business. I can sell ice cubes to eskimos if I believe in the product, but I'm the world's worst salesman if I don't. Just couldn't do it anymore once I lost confidence in the companies I was repping.

Sold my entire book of business to another big brokerage, had garage sales on a weekly basis until I sold everything I owned except for what would fit into 2 suitcases, sold my crib and moved to San Jose Costa Rica - where I knew absolutely no one. Got a job with BetOnSports.com, an "offshore" casino which was the world's biggest online sports book at the time. Had so, so much fun. Had a cool place, met a bunch of cool friends, had a little 90lb dancer chick named Maria move in with me, and just partied my freaking ass off. Almost had too much fun, though. Costa Rica was a little too close to Columbia/Bolivia/Peru for my own good.

Living abroad - especially in a country that has the caliber of female Costa Rica has - is something I can't recommend highly enough. For me it was absolutely life-changing. Very liberating to realize that the only barriers in your life are the ones you create. You can do anything and go anywhere if you want it bad enough and you put your mind to it.

Planned on being down there for at least 4 years unless I got a sweet job offer in the Denver/Boulder area. It was the only place in the US that I would've left San Jose for. Eventually got a job offer from Wells Fargo in Denver and the rest is history. Wouldn't change a moment of the entire experience, though. Changed my life in so many ways. Mainly just the knowledge that I can do anything I put my mind to, and that your past does not equal your future.

Here's where I worked in Costa Rica, and I was there for the Pussycat Dolls party. Lots of cocaine and loose, gorgeous women down there...

I would be dead. I'd have been very happy, but I'd definitely be dead by now. Nice going though. Looks like it was a lot of fun.

[Eureka]

Seems this can happen to everyone no matter what their doing with their lives. It's good that you recognize it and you'll notice the posts in this thread guys did something about it because if not something is going to give. Again, good thing you're recognizing it. Some good advice in this thread from guys who can be open to talk in a forum like this when in person men tend to not be that way. Although I would definitely recommend you not cloud your brain with weed lol.

I just turned 40 this week and I went through something like the OP is going through about five years back. I decided to make a change and the big two changes were meditation (in the morning) and Bikram Yoga. I didn't know that at the time but these two exercises gave me the strength to get to where I wanted to be. Which was being happy about/with life. All of a sudden I had extra energy to do what was needed and I could relax/rest when need. I think Meditation could be helpful for everyone. Takes 5 min in the morning.

In these past 5 years lots has changed for me. After years of choosing to be a bachelor I ended up meeting a woman (who is now my wife) because I was giving back/helping others. I bought a bad ass BMX to ride around because well I enjoy it. I let go of a GTO that I cherished many many years back that I regretted selling so last year I bought one because it made me smile when driving it. This Saturday I'm going to have my first child a son. And it's all due to me doing something to get out of that rut and changing my thinking. Again, meditation helped a lot.

OP I'll leave you with a video that I have watched hundreds of time. I could probably give the speech myself at this point. It helped me with work and other things in life. Some quotes from the video I like are "Change your stinkin thinking" and "People who don't take step number one never take step number two". Hope all the responses you've received in this thread give you a way to go and don't forget you're not the only one to go through what you're going through.

[Boise_Chief]

Not work related but totally burnt out on news and media. I still turn it on in the morning with coffee but the first thing that tweaks me off it goes. Occasionally I even see the weather.

What you are talking about I have fought thru the years. I have used games to stimulate my mind soduko, solitaire a, trivia etc. The key is a time limit i did 20 mins. Then I would force myself to go... attack whatever I should do weather it is brush my teeth submit bids, really whatever. Try to do each thing you need to do immediately. You would be surprised how much time we waste getting going. Schedule your time for you in whatever you enjoy regardless of if you feel like it. Idk it works for me. Also I have many ****s because I refuse to give any to anyone else.

[Demonpenz]

get some counciling to buy time go on anti-depressant ultimately if you need a change it will happen on its own. Peoples hands are often forced on them when burned out. You find a way to continue or you change.

[eDave]

Might as well post the entire movie.

A big contributing factor to my burnout was working from home for so long and the time it afforded me to do more work, sometimes for two different companies at the same time). I'd like to go back to co-location but just seeing the office in that clip kinda sickens me. I don't know how I could survive cubical life. And the long ass frustrating commute.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by eDave

Might as well post the entire movie.

A big contributing factor to my burnout was working from home for so long and the time it afforded me to do more work, sometimes for two different companies at the same time). I'd like to go back to co-location but just seeing the office in that clip kinda sickens me. I don't know how I could survive cubical life. And the long ass frustrating commute.

Yep. Same here. I can’t do cubes and long drives after working from home for a decade but sometimes it’s still a curse, especially when you realize that you are working 80-90 hours a week.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Yep. Same here. I can’t do cubes and long drives after working from home for a decade but sometimes it’s still a curse, especially when you realize that you are working 80-90 hours a week.

Working from home seems to be what has gotten to me, that mixed with because I was always the one around I just took care of the house stuff. Now with Covid and everyone around all the time I feel like I'm always busting my ass while everyone else can enjoy their time. I feel like it never ends, no matter what my list continues to grow and I'm never done.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Working from home seems to be what has gotten to me, that mixed with because I was always the one around I just took care of the house stuff. Now with Covid and everyone around all the time I feel like I'm always busting my ass while everyone else can enjoy their time. I feel like it never ends, no matter what my list continues to grow and I'm never done.

Notice how you said “feel like” twice there. Those feelings are associated with uncomfortable, stressful, anxiety provoking thoughts. That’s a clue that perhaps a lot of this is from internal processes not external factors. That’s important because you challenge those ideas and feelings for how logical and based in reality they are. Are you actually doing more than normal? If so, do you have to do that? Is anyone demanding you to stretch yourself further than before? Does the list grow out of necessity or feeling obligated to do more things due to being home? Could go on and on but the point being that feelings can become overwhelming and combating the negative spiral requires regaining control of your thoughts and thus the emotions you experience.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by eDave

Might as well post the entire movie.

A big contributing factor to my burnout was working from home for so long and the time it afforded me to do more work, sometimes for two different companies at the same time). I'd like to go back to co-location but just seeing the office in that clip kinda sickens me. I don't know how I could survive cubical life. And the long ass frustrating commute.

I get that too. I've worked remotely for 7.5 of the last 8 years. At first I was obsessed with proving I could be productive and work from home. I did a lot of extra work. I stopped after about 2 years when I realized it wasn't sustainable. No ****ing way I'm ever going back to cubicle work. I'll go for a little while to a client site when doing a restore from a ransomware attack but thats only a couple of weeks.

To the OP about working remote..... I had a lot of the same issues you mentioned. I think you need a distraction away from your job. Something totally different.

When my son was young and wanted to play competitive baseball team, I managed the team. Working in tech all day, then being around a kids game played in the dirt and grass worked for me. When I moved to Florida I missed watching the Chiefs with other Chief fans. I started Arrowhead South. Spent a lot of my leisure time building it out, getting chapters up and going. No money involved. Just a love of the Chiefs and definitely a non tech activity.

Whatever you have a passion for, set some time aside for it no matter what, it'll keep you sane.

[OrtonsPiercedTaint]

Sometimes, things just need time

[O.city]

Buying a new dental practice right before a pandemic hits definitely burned me out a bit

Honestly though, best advice I could give is completely revamp your diet, exercise and fine people around you who are worth spending time with

[O.city]

Breath is a book written by James Nestor. Pick it up and give it a try

[rico]

I’m there now. Have been for a while. Blech.