Monday, April 02, 2012

Nemesis

More than once in my life I've burned out.

The first time I was working for a software company, managing the documentation department. All of our product shipped just before school started and we typically had to produce 25-30 manuals simultaneously, often before the software was finalized. I had a very small staff and a very tight schedule, so in addition to my job as manager, I assigned myself as many manuals as I assigned any of the others.

One Saturday I was at work after a long, hard week, pushing myself to make an overwhelming number of changes to an overwhelming number of files. Something inside me snapped. Tears ran down my face as I sat in front of my computer feeling as though I couldn't bear to make another keystroke.

Somehow I made it through the deadlines. But burnout is like mono. It takes a long time to recover, and once you've suffered from it, you are more susceptible. I'm worried that I'm experiencing the warning signs again, and I'm not sure how to combat it. Chocolate only helps so much.

1 comment:

Robin said...

I've gone through burnout twice. I'm still trying to fight my way back from the second one.

Good luck as you try to fend it off. I think coming to book club would help. (Or maybe it would just make me happy to see you.)