Mental Health

Mental health is a tricky one when working in modern society (especially in software). In my personal opinion there are a few stages of health which need to be monitored and reacted to:

1. Enthusiasm and bussiness, this is when everything seems to be flying by. Work is busy and there are requirements which need to be met left right and center. You dont have the time to think and hence have productive days, unproductive days and all the in between. After a while of this you will enter one of the next stages (2 or 3)
2. Burnout, when working too hard or under too much stress. It is catastrophic to the mental health and causes a crash. Taking time off for this makes sense as the employee needs to recover from overwork.
3. Quiet after the storm and comedown, given time to think about what you are doing. This one is another crash, however different to burnout I believe. This one happens to me quite often.
4. I would recommend if you need a day off, take a day off. Fuck the man, it is their job to run the business and give you enough to do. If they have a problem with you taking time off, they can ask you what the problem is.

On your day off (or in your spare time), split up your life on a piece of paper into 4 parts.

• Relationships
• Experiences / Travel
• Making/ Learning
• Work

If you want split these more finely up, like:

• Relationships
  • Romantic
  • Family
  • Friends
• Work
  • Challenge
  • Value
  • Fulfillment
• etc. etc.

Think about what each of these mean to you

• Which ones you are not giving the time of day.
• Which ones you are giving the WHOLE day
• Which ones do you actually value and why?