ilias-t
commented
5 years ago Thanks for sharing your insights. Seems to me that everyone suffers from some level of anxiety in their life.
Likewise, I find physical exertion really helpful and at this point I have to do it at least 20m a day or else I find myself getting stressed/anxious. I've also found that taking turmeric supplements has a similar effect for me, but it's hard to know how much is placebo or not. There does seem to be some scientific research to back up my experience, but hard to know the efficacy it would have for others 🤷♂️
Problem: Tech stresses me out. No matter if I'm coding, managing, designing, it all stresses me out. I have anxiety that is moderately controlled with a low dosage of SSRI, but I still get easily fatigued by the strain of all things technical. I need forced time away where I can clear my mind of everything work related.
Actions: Physical Exertion and Artistic Expression. I do very little coding outside of work. This means that maybe I'm not producing as much as my colleagues, not talking at as many conferences as I "should" and generally not establishing myself as a leader in any technical space. I use my time outside of work, and outside of coding to explore how my body reacts to physical stressors and creative endeavors. This means I collect hobbies like no one's business. I can discuss various hobbies I've tried in the past, but my current hobbies are basically Improv Comedy and weight lifting. I'm also learning bungee dance.
Results: When I compare how I function at work against my out-of-work time engaging in non-tech related activities, I find that as my out-of-work time in non-tech related activities increased, my work happiness and productivity goes up. The inverse is also true in my case. If I work on a tech side project, invariably my happiness with my day job plummets (for more reasons than I outlined here surrounding language/infrastructure/support differences between day job and any side project I take on)