Burnout has worsened during
the coronavirus crisis. Stress. Social media burnout.
Disconnectedness. Overwhelmed. It's one of those things that doesn't go
away. Can you feel it? Yeah, a lot of us can. I did freelance for over 12 years in the front-end
section of IT. So I'm a programmer and advised a lot of companies there. Did performance stuff,
digged really into detail, wrote a newsletter or still write a newsletter, which is very well
known in the industry. Spoke at conferences and two years ago, I decided to switch
my careers - not entirely but partially, and I started a side business,
a garden, a vegetable garden In front of a computer, working on projects with
clients in a team, you have a lot of stress. You have a deadline to match, you have problems you
can't solve immediately. And it was one and a half years where I worked way too much and had way too
little time for myself. Like 18 hours on weekends, then a short break and then continue. And also,
as a freelancer you never have only one project at a time, you have two or three projects in
parallel. I never learned to have a break. I went to bed, thinking about the projects
tomorrow, thinking about what can we do better, how can we solve that problem. I got up in the
morning, thinking about the same problem or new problems so actually the stress from computer
work had a big influence on my mental health. I wasn't able to concentrate for weeks.
Like I got up at 7am as every day, but I felt like I can't achieve something today.
So I realized after four to five weeks that something is wrong and I took the time to try to
find out what. And I realized: well this is kind of a burnout. I'm not able to concentrate
anymore. I'm not able to work continuously for an hour, and instead I'm doing something
and I don't remember what I did on the day. So it wasn't the worst form but it
was enough that I couldn't take on new projects. That's when I learned I need
to change my work habit a little bit. I've had a garden since I think five years now
and we ate vegetables from our garden all summer and we nearly didn't buy anything else in that
time, which felt really nice. And I thought: well why wouldn't I use that chance and
provide other people here nearby in the region with the same food. So I researched
a little bit what are the options for that and realized, well it would be worth trying
to make some money with growing vegetables. I asked my brother whether he wants to join
my new business and he said yes, so now we're farming with two people and it's good because
for both of us it's a part-time job. I mean in spring it's nearly full-time but in
other seasons it's less. I'm happy here, connected to nature and together with my family
it's even better. So we love the place and we're really really glad to be here and be able
to farm and produce food for other people. After deciding that and starting
my side business with the garden I realized how it benefits my other job, because
I'm so much more happy with coding websites again. If I'm stressed out by some problem that I face
in front of the computer, then I go outside and do something there and an hour later it is
like I never had stress these days. So this is a great difference towards my coding job and
it really makes a difference for the brain, for the physical as well as the mental healthiness. I remember this one moment when you asked
me, if I thought you were crazy sometimes. I thought no, I admire your courage and as
long as it makes you happy and doesn't change or hurt other people I will always support you. So
this idea of becoming a gardener was nothing that shocked me, it was a slow process to be honest and
if I see you now I know that it was the right step because it brought a lot more joy
and happiness to your life and made you more balanced. Despite
all the hard work and hours apart and sometimes it's really exhausting but I think
we are in a happy place right now, which is good. And I mean I get full support by you, which is
amazing. For the career change, for building a new business, which is stressful for everyone while
having a kid so yeah it's a crazy idea. It worked out very well I think, mainly because of your
support so this is really great and I'm grateful for you and for the decisions we've made together.
Yeah I'm pretty happy with how we turned our lives into what it is today. I think that's what it is
all about - finding someone who you are willing to work through all the struggles with.
Someone you commit to 100 percent. These are the little salad
plants. We seeded them 40 days ago so we plant them for harvest I guess in
September. I think about being left behind of course in the technology world. I'm not sure
if it's a problem yet. I started this experiment one and a half year ago but I never stopped
reading stuff in the text scene. However if I would take a break for longer and not
read all the stuff that I do read every week it could be different. So I'm not sure. I define
my job as for example in summer it's like 90% gardening, 10% sitting on the computer.
And in the 10%, I want to read something about web development etc. I feel that's
necessary as well. I have this list of sources where I know it's relevant or where
I can be sure I'm not leaving something out. I don't think that actually programming or
coding in front of a computer is the problem. The main problem with stress, it's more like the
whole internet, the whole connectivity thing. Smartphones, laptops. Being connected to every
service, being available all day. You have things like Slack, where 20 people write stuff. In
a normal office you would never communicate with that many people in parallel. It wouldn't
be that way. And Slack is just one channel, then you have email, then you have Twitter, you
have Facebook, you have all the social messengers. Then you want to watch YouTube, Instagram posts
etc. There are so many inputs, you can't deal with that. The human brain isn't made for that
actually. When you think how people lived just 50 or 100 years ago, it's crazy what we do these
days and how we're even able to cope with that, mostly. But it isn't surprising that it doesn't
work out all the time and for everyone, and that you at some point get crazy. I'm on a good path to my perfect plan for my life.
It's really not easy to make a job change and even if it's just a part-time job change it was a
huge matter for me. I have a wife, I have a kid, it's not easy to say: well I'm just throwing
away, what was super successful in the past and I'm trying new things that are not that well paid
and where I don't know if it works out or not. But I feel flexible enough to switch jobs again
and if you're curious about various things, you will find a way to change your job
to something else and even if it's not an entirely different industry, you can still
search for another job that focuses on another area and this often makes a huge difference.
I can only encourage people to think about: is it what I want to do or not.
And if you're happy at the job, cool. If you're really really unhappy
or uncertain just think about it and try to elaborate whether it's
worth it to change something. Thousands of developers find jobs
across Europe using honeypot. If you're up for a new challenge in one of
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