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30 years in the workforce

2 years starting a new startup

5 years after it was acquired

Total burnout...

I resigned and am 10 months into a break, it's the best thing I've ever done!



Good to hear you are back on track. I can relate.

Hard workers will always think “But I can’t stop now!” , “Everything will go to shit if I stop working.” , and these kinds of thoughts like there is some force that keeps you from taking breaks. The only who is keeping you, is often yourself. Start learning to say no to bosses and your own magnum opus project and stand up for some basic stuff like recharging in good order.

Get your weekends in, get social / offline again, tune into the analog is my motto these days.


Twenty years, two months into the second burn out on top of long term depression.

I'm going bankrupt for a second time because I can't work 100% anymore.

I'm yet to find a psychiatrist. Wish I could have a break sometimes.


10 years in. I started to have panic attacks last year. Took a a few 2 weeks vacations. They help only temporarily. Now i'm out of vacations, trapped in a foreign country without usual citizen rights to take a many-months break from work and without an option to return home(because of war). Feel trapped without any light ahead.


Try megadosing B1 (2000mg), B2 (1000mg+) and take NAD+ boosters like Niagen (300mg) for a month - a few of my friends/colleagues recovered from burnout/panic attacks with these. Your body needs NAD+ and B1 for energy, your brain needs FAD+ and B1 for energy (FAD+ comes from B2). You might be just low on basic energy elements and replenishing those might help you quickly. In general, it's a good idea to add multivitamin/multimineral as well and for B1 a bit of glucose as well (sugar/sweets).


Thanks! I will read on these things first.

You mentioned glucose -- actually i feel much less anxious right after i eat something sweet.


Magnesium supplements might be helpful, too. They helped me be calmer and to think more clearly again in a bad time in my life.


Also, I forgot to mention avoid sun exposure when taking B2 as it reacts with sunlight producing toxic substances in the skin. Winter seems ideal for taking it.

Iron is also helping tired people but nobody knows why, so you might try that as well (for a short time period).


This are very strong claims. Got any reliable research papers to share?


This is an ancient proverb and a cliche, yet sometimes it helps me to remember it: The night is always darkest before the dawn.


You don't have any savings after 20 years of working? What happened?


Not the person you're replying to, but I can relate to them. I've been working more than 20 years and currently have negative net worth. Shitty clothes, no car, no home, almost no pension, child on the way and I don't even know where we're going to live.

Being entrepreneurial and bootstrap-minded with big, bold visions can go poorly.

Doubly so when unexpected caring responsibilities appear in your life. Grief when you lose someone you love dearly, takes it out of you too. Add some clients who never paid. Volunteering on big projects to make a better world as well as help my own plans, only to find it being an infinite time sink. During the height of pandemic issues in 2020, I completely ran out of cash, hit the limit of my already credit-limit-hacked credit cards, and couldn't afford rent or food for a while. A rent deferral from the landlord, which I still had to pay back, helped, as did community food providers during lockdown.

If you worked with me, you'd probably consider me a highly skilled programmer among other things. I have a reasonably impressive résumé. It's not that I can't earn well, indeed I received a $350k plus equity offer a few months ago, which sadly was retracted on the day I was due to start due to the company's business changing direction. 1 year at that job would have set me up for years. Ah well.

And yet, homelessness isn't far away if I don't get another job soon. I haven't overspent either, I have next to nothing in the form of material wealth, and haven't been on a proper vacation in over a decade.

I'm always a bit irked when I see here on HN people suggesting that it's impossible to end up poor if you're a skilled developer. Shit happens, despite the potential for earning well.


> I'm always a bit irked when I see here on HN people suggesting that it's impossible to end up poor if you're a skilled developer. Shit happens, despite the potential for earning well.

It's pretty hard to end up poor as skilled developer, unless you spend many years chasing entreprenual ideas or otherwise engage in activities that don't guarantee income. But, if you just do paid work and are responsible with your money (assuming you live in a developed country), it's impossible to be broke after 20 years of working without a huge amount a bad luck.


Many, many empty promises.


Sometimes radical changes are necessary.

A good doc can help a lot, take care of yourself


10 months without work? I mean this as a sincere question but…how do you afford to live?


They said that they worked for 30 years and subsequently successfully sold a startup. In many cases, that will be enough to live off one's savings for at least a few years.


What do you do on a typical day?


First it was tons of sleeping and resting, too many computer games.

Then it was cleaning up stuff around the house and yard that I didn't have time to do.

Now it's getting back into woodworking and making things.

I missed the smell of freshly cut wood :)




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