
‘Surge Capacity’ Is Depleted – It’s Why You Feel Awful - hliyan
https://elemental.medium.com/your-surge-capacity-is-depleted-it-s-why-you-feel-awful-de285d542f4c
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viburnum
This article doesn’t know it but it’s explaining to middle-class people what
being poor is like.

~~~
heymijo
When something is written so perfectly there is nothing else to say.

But comments with many replies seem to draw more attention so I will add to
this:

I have taught in an area that is poor. The opioid epidemic piled on top of
that poverty to ravage it further. Students came to school and would say they
were going to their uncle's in the next town tonight. I would say oh that's
nice, what will you do. They would say, take a shower. We don't have running
water so we go there once a week.

Basic needs that anyone in the middle class like me take for granted become
focal points every day for someone living in poverty.

Do I put $5 of gas in my car or buy food? My car broke down and I can't afford
to fix it. My minimum wage job uses dynamic scheduling and they just said I
have to come in. My friend who I texted to take me can't do it at this time.
There's no public transportation. How do I get to work? And if I do, who is
there when my kids get home from school?

It's an insidious cycle. You can't see 5 feet in front of you and the
treadmill never stops running.

God, I hope people read your comment and the article.

~~~
heymijo
Six months ago a poster here lamented that they were rejected by Google and
Facebook. That it would take 2-3 years for them to make $250k. That everyone
they see on IG is getting to go to Hawaii on offsites while their employer
won't even pay to send them to a conference in Seattle.

It is the kind of thing I can understand. Everyone, at every income level has
problems that are very real to them. At the same time, I look at their
complaints in light of what someone in poverty deals with everyday and their
complaints are pitiful.

~~~
nitrogen
_I look at their complaints in light of what someone in poverty deals with
everyday and their complaints are pitiful._

I agree with the need for perspective. The well off really need to know what
the rest of the world is like, so they make decisions that take their effects
on others into account. The disadvantaged really need to know what the path to
being well off looks like, so they can apply their voices and efforts to the
places that will make a difference. I've been in that place where a rise in
the price of ramen or gasoline could make it impossible to pay rent. I've also
been fortunate to find myself in a much better place.

However, we don't gain much by forbidding any displeasure for all but the
worst sufferers. Failing to get a job at FAANG doesn't magically move that
money into the hands of people who desperately need it. Being set back in
one's own fortunate life still sucks.

We all need empathy at times, nobody should have a monopoly on empathy. Mutual
empathy builds bridges, monopolized empathy builds resentment.

~~~
notabee
You have a good point about empathy. No one wants to feel unseen, or like
their problems don't matter. The real thing that is required is that people
have (most importantly imho) the willingness and also the imagination to think
about the difficulties others must face. No one's life is completely pain
free, and we could sidetrack into some Buddhist thought based on that. But,
objective differences remain. Someone can drown in 6 inches of water as well
as by falling off a boat in the middle of the ocean, and be just as dead, but
it takes _a lot more work_ to get out of the middle of the ocean.

I think that people need to feel a sense of agency, self control, and meaning.
That sometimes means they feel the need to greatly downplay the role of good
fortune in their current life circumstances, and play up the mistakes of
others to explain others' situations. It's an extremely common cognitive
distortion, and it causes a real sickness in society.

------
partiallypro
I have been increasingly disinterested in daily tasks, etc as this pandemic
has marched on. I have even been going out, accepting there are risks, but
still I'm not able to shake the sort of melancholy. The first few months of
the pandemic were incredibly stressful at my job due to a vendor going under
due to COVID, and I still have not recovered.

Since then I've been seeing more and more of my friends or former coworkers
being laid off from their jobs, the growing social unrest around the US, all
while some of the richest people I know are doing better than ever. I think
for me, the feeling is brought on wondering if this pandemic has put me
further behind, after I've already been effected by the 2007-2008 crisis. It
really does feel, maybe for the first time (for me,) that the divide between
those that can take advantage of this situation and those that cannot has
grown into an insurmountable chasm.

I'm not even doing terribly but feel very far from my goals...which now feel
even more in jeopardy, so I can't even imagine how other people are feeling.

~~~
munificent
_> It really does feel, maybe for the first time (for me,) that the divide
between those that can take advantage of this situation and those that cannot
has grown into an insurmountable chasm._

I 100% feel this.

One of the most acutely tragic aspects of this pandemic is that it
dramatically amplifies the inequalities already present. Other natural
disasters—wars, hurricanes, etc.—destroy physical objects. That effectively
increases equality because it is most harmful to those that have the most
capital.

This pandemic leaves everyone's possessions and wealth alone and cuts off your
ability to work. The people most likely to get it are those who don't have the
wealth and power to insulate themselves from risk. And they are the ones least
likely to have the healthcare required to survive.

It is a horrible, _horrible_ tragedy.

At the same time, I try not to think of this as insurmountable. Everything
good about our current society was created by people living in a world less
just than the one we have today. It was the people living in a United States
where Blacks were enslaved who emancipated them. It was men who legally had
all the power that finally granted women suffrage.

There will be many casualties and many people who don't get to experience
better days. But at the national level, I have faith that we can overcome this
and end up better than we are today.

~~~
danaris
> It is a horrible, horrible tragedy.

A tragedy is something no one could have prevented. This is outright cruelty,
bordering on genocide (particularly given the ways predominantly-black and
native communities have been treated during the pandemic).

This was foreseeable and preventable, and the group that is to blame for it is
glaringly obvious.

~~~
munificent
The pandemic is a tragedy. The US federal government's response is a crime.

It's very much like Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane didn't kill thousands of
New Orleanians. Almost all of them were alive after the hurricane had passed.
It was the local and larger government's failure to handle it that led to such
a widespread disaster.

------
war1025
One of the main ways I've found out of this is to just accept that taking
certain calculated risks is worthwhile.

At the very beginning of lockdown, we decided that seeing or next door
neighbors was acceptable. That was helpful.

In early July, we decided seeing our closest friends was acceptable.

We started going to a teeny tiny farmers market once a week just to see other
people.

Basically, I think it's important to remember that we are all human, and
humans need other humans.

~~~
WalterSear
Things have gotten riskier, but you have increased your exposure. There are
certainly other factors involved: we know more about those risks and how to
mitigate them, for instance. But, things have gotten riskier, not safer.

From the discussions I have had with people around me , justifying the same
'calculated risks', it's clear that they aren't actually making rational
decisions as much as rationalizing their decisions; bargaining with their
emotions and then sliding into complacency.

~~~
just-juan-post
> it's clear that they aren't actually making rational decisions as much as
> rationalizing their decisions

Because one does not reach the same conclusion as you does not make their
conclusion automatically irrational.

A very large part of the online community is irrational indeed. Irrational
about the true danger of the virus.

I am not scared of the virus. I am scared of how scared people are of it.

All children who died of Covid-19 were already seriously ill
[https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/all-children-who-died-
of-...](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/all-children-who-died-of-
covid-19-were-already-seriously-ill-jlxr8mkxq)

In Ireland: Median age of death is 84. 94% with underlying condition(s)
[https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronav...](https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/casesinireland/epidemiologyofcovid-19inireland/COVID-19%20Daily%20epidemiology%20report%20\(NPHET\)%20v1.0_20200825%20-%20website.pdf)

54% of San Francisco storefronts have closed
[https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Half-of-all-San-
Fran...](https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Half-of-all-San-Francisco-
storefronts-have-closed-15513726.php)

The lockdowns and doom seem 1000x more irrational to me.

~~~
gnusty_gnurc
bingo! I fear that people are encouraging and instilling agoraphobia.

There’s unmeasurable effects of all this hysteria and confinement. And if the
over-cautious lockdown side is going to assume worst-case scenarios of covid,
let’s assume worst-case scenarios for the cost and side-effects lockdown - the
true worst-case is that the benefit is marginal and we suffer every drawback.

~~~
edmundsauto
It's not clear that the current economic situation would be better if we let
everyone out and suffered all the death and negative long term health outcomes
that may still lurk in apparently benign cases.

~~~
gnusty_gnurc
I appreciate the side that has humility.

An ability to _entertain_ that they're wrong.

It should be clear to people that at pretty much every stage, people have
missed the mark massively on predictions.

The experts haven't been too helpful and really seem to be even worse than no
advice.

The US regulatory state stood in the way of states offering testing as quickly
as possible.

It's been a bungled mess and "but Trump" is all too easy and convenient.

~~~
edmundsauto
Which people, which mark, have been wrong? What's happening (excepting the
stock market) all seems to be pretty in line with the expectations I had
around April.

I also don't agree that the experts have been unhelpful, and strongly disagree
that they have been worse than no advice. They have been fought at every turn
by people who don't understand epidemiology.

I think it's pretty clear that if we had actually listened to the public
health experts, we (in the US) would be in much better shape. Trump (who you
brought up) bears some of this responsibility for doing something so stupid as
to politicize masks. He bears more blame because he appears to interfere with
and try to adjust the science messaging to fit his narrative, which serves to
confuse people.

So no - the experts haven't been wrong. We've just not spent much time
listening to them.

~~~
gnusty_gnurc
> They have been fought at every turn by people who don't understand
> epidemiology.

Didn't Fauci discourage mask usage at the worst time to discourage mask usage?

Weren't the experts continuously downplaying the danger while Trump was
shutting down flights?

Wasn't Pelosi, de Blasio and crew telling us to "hug asians" and jump on the
subway?

I'm not claiming there's anyone who was right in this mess, but there's very
little ground to say anyone managed this correctly or would have been better
equipped.

The supposed Democratic utopias in this country (NJ and NYC) killed off the
elderly. And people want Cuomo to run for president...

------
mancerayder
The brain fog is very real.

In my case, I actually like my job (a rarity for most, including myself), but
my productivity has been driven down when it is reliant on concentration (like
a technical task). Interestingly, it's a bit higher in social stuff like
meetings.

I know a few people who are actually MORE productive. These are the perpetual-
workaholic-anyway types. They've adapted by launching their consciousness into
action. I admire those people, because my friends like this are actually very
very successful (before and during this). Joe Rogan even says sometimes, he
escapes the pain of consciousness by keeping himself busy.

------
Trasmatta
As a counterexample, I felt awful in March and April and feel much better now.
Very little has changed about my day to day routine. I think different people
handle these things differently. I don't seem to have experienced this "surge
capacity" phenomenon.

I think it's because I'm a naturally very private, introverted person, and
have a lot of practice with isolation already. So now that the initial fears
and anxieties have subsided, I've settled into a comfortable routine.

It's not ideal, and I miss having the option to see people or go to events.
But for me, things are more manageable now than they were early on, where I
was filled with constant dread and anxiety.

~~~
war1025
We actually had sort of a sweet spot the the late spring / early summer where
the worst case scenario had obviously not happened, but people were still not
going back to seeing their regular friends / family.

During that time, we got to hang out with our neighbors almost daily. It was
great.

Now everyone is back to work / family / etc.

Same neighborhood, same people, just they don't come out to play anymore.

------
tetris11
For a long time during this pandemic, I felt what I can only describe as
Weltschmerz [1], the same sense of melancholy brought about by the idea that
the bad has overtaken the good, and we are trapped into the final death throes
as a species.

1\.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltschmerz](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltschmerz)

------
komali2
Normally I get annoyed by these kinds of off topic comments but what the fuck,
this is what the article looked like for _5 seconds_ on a hardwired 80mbps
connection

[https://i.imgur.com/6Rw6kbe.png](https://i.imgur.com/6Rw6kbe.png)

How does it get this bad?

~~~
belltaco
Atleast you were able to read the article after 5 seconds. This is what I get.

[https://i.imgur.com/XqKEvn3.png](https://i.imgur.com/XqKEvn3.png)

~~~
tandr
delete all your *medium.com cookies, or try incognito mode

~~~
nyanpasu64
Block cookies on medium.com. You'll never have to deal with login/payment
prompts again. (In the past, it has responses though, but the sidebar still
works now.)

EDIT: I block cookies on many news sites as well. It bypasses paywalls on many
sites (but not FT).

------
clegs
Related theory:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion)

------
tingletech
if you are like me and are out of reads on medium, there is an outline link
[https://outline.com/GwHDSf](https://outline.com/GwHDSf)

------
Mr_T_
I don't feel awful.

~~~
war1025
I don't think I've ever felt "awful" except maybe the first couple weeks of
lockdown.

But I have found myself randomly tearing up when listening to something or
thinking of how things used to be.

I think I heard someplace describe it as grief. Makes sense I guess.

------
xwdv
I think this will be a new normal. Now that we've seen the kind of surge
capacity people are capable of we can push them to greater capacity than
before and yield greater productivity.

~~~
majormajor
I'm not sure where you're living and working where people are being _more
productive_ the past several months, but it hasn't been something I've seen.

