Omg I didn't realise he was in a video call with Katie 😂 I thought he was watching one of her videos so when he was talking and she replied I was like wait what?! Haha
Hey Wheeze, long time listener, first time caller. Seriously, I remember the wild days from before you had even met Chyna (or told us about her), it's been a while and I'm glad you and your little family are doing really well. I wanted to say thank you for all the videos up to this point and thank you for this one specifically. This is something I've been actively dealing with probably the better part of the last two years or so and it's been really rough and I feel sort of lost at the moment; I know things will turn around once I can get my feet planted and doing something good again. I think the biggest thing for me about "burnout" is that I guess technically I was already burned out like 3-4 years ago, but as certain projects have fizzled out it's become omnipresent and in the way for so many things that I've tried to do since. I didn't know it until it was too late. This year I'm trying to get back to my original purpose, which is just simply to try and connect emotionally with others. The thing that made me fall in love with music was having guys like Chester Bennington and James Hetfield and others yelling in my ear about all the things I was going through at the time, and I connected emotionally to that. My path to that has gotten lost trying to get an audience and get heard and "the industry" and I've got to figure out my way out of the grind. It's the grind that turns me off. I looked back at a lot of the stuff I've done over the past decade plus and I'm super proud of all of it, but it really bums me out how few people care or cared over the years so I've just gotta get back to that. Doing the work and who cares who sees it or hears it. I've got to get back to just enjoying the work again and not seeing it as work, and if there's a path to an audience they can take it but I don't have to. It's all really tough to figure out but I know that I will and I know that it will be worth it, and again back to the original point of this comment, thank you for this video. I don't know if it will help moving forward but it's helped right now. I feel better knowing that it isn't me, and it isn't just me, and there is a way through this. I know that some of the things I have planned for this year are in line with some of the things you've done to get through this, and even if it doesn't really work, at least I've tried something different. Again, thank you, Craig. For everything.
“You had to have been on fire in order to burnout.” That’s the only thing I remember from my thesis on the subject when I was graduating in psychology. Huh.
I am writing a book for the last 5 years, and it's been through a number of revisions after getting feedback from readers. I finally went to a professional editor, paid for her services and everything, and when it came time for me to do my part... I couldn't do it. It felt... the worst. I felt hurt, and incapable, and I hated the thought of sitting and reading all the ways my book went wrong, like a constant torture. I didn't notice that I haven't written anything for a few months, which is a lot for me, I love to write and therefore always have a few projects on the side. When I told my feelings to the editor, she told me that I'm not ready to do it and should stop. Which made me feel even worse. I keep wandering what is wrong with me, am I too childish? Is it depression? Am I broken? This video made me think that perhaps I'm burned out and haven't realized. That the thing that brought me joy no longer brings me joy. I just want to be done with it. The reward I get from writing is reading and enjoying the story unfolding, and seeing others enjoy the story too. I haven't felt that in a long time. This video makes me think that I need to reconsider my purpose, my meaning. I hope it gets better. I still want to get my book published. Wish me luck...
I have been there! And I've been a writing coach! Feel free to disregard and totally chuck the following in the bin if it's not helpful! It's what's been helpful to me and other writers I've worked with, so YMMV. The first thing to do (if you haven't started already) is to start writing again on your own terms, just stuff that's for you, that isn't for anybody else. Remind yourself why you love it! I have found it helpful when I am in a writing desert period of my life to just start anywhere, and remember that getting started sucks and usually (for me) doesn't feel great. But once I'm stuck in, I never regret it. And if I write every day, even a little bit, it really makes a huge difference overall. Also? Once I started writing for the public, I found it helpful to get a creative hobby that wasn't writing (learning a difficult musical instrument or three has been good for me, for instance), and that was just for me, just because I enjoyed doing it. When I was done with my first book and sent it off, I just didn't want to look at it anymore. I was DONE. I did end up going back and looking at everything and making the changes that needed to be made, but it was often torturous and infuriating work. I'd see an edit and want to throw my laptop across the room, for no apparent reason other than I was just DONE. I'm actually having to do that process again now for another book, but with a much bigger restructuring and a lot of rewrites, and I'm like, UUGGGHHHH. I think books just have a way of burning us out by the end. It's like, helloooooo I gave birth already why do I need to do this b.s. again? But that's where I remind myself that not every part of a great job is fun and enjoyable. Anyway, I wish you luck and fortitude! You've got this! (Also, I should be writing and/or editing....)
@@flibbertygibbette thank you so much! A lot of it make so much sense. I think I will go back to writing fanfic for the heck of it, also draw again... Also also, I totally feel the birthing metaphor 😂😭
@@cenedra20 Yeah! There you go. And like, set aside some time today to write a bit, even if it's literally five minutes. Put it in your schedule. Sit in front of some paper or a screen or whatever you use to write, and even if you literally just write "this is dumb, i have nothing today, blah blah blah" for that few minutes, it's helpful. I have literally written that at the start of my writing time and then a few minutes later had major stuff open up, so just making the time (especially when you don't feel like it) helps.
I'd also like to add that you seem to be so close to an actually publishable book that it would be kind of a shame to throw that away. However it seems like you are too attached to the project and draw too much self respect from it. You need to get some distance to it and find your footing again in other things. Then, when you are more relaxed and have a new perspective, doing the final work will be much simpler.
I am actually dealing with this right now! I have worked in video production for 8 years editing everything from tourism videos to online courses and I just can't do it anymore. My quality of work has suffered, I stopped making fun videos for myself, and have very little energy. I thought video production was what I was meant to be doing, it's what I went to school for! So at 30, even though I am terrified, I quit my job and have decided I'm going to become an electrician, make videos for fun and keep bees with my boyfriend.
Maybe things just have a shelf-life - an expiration date. And one day you may stumble across yet another new path -and take it (artisanal honey products from your hives, just for example, while still making your bread and butter as an electrician). Why not? Life is an ever-unfolding adventure!
I had a burnout from a bad job too and now my tolerance for "toxic" environment and sadly too, stress is soooooooooooooo low that i probably automatically cant burnout again anymore cuz i feel that thing coming way earlier. Anyhow i leave a comment and a like to hopefully kick the algorithm in the bum sooooooo more ppl see u cuz i think ure the funniest dude evoor
I'm the same! After years of depression and recovering thanks to therapy, I CANNOT fall I the trap of burnout or let my boundaries be crossed any longer. It's really handy 🤔
Hank's XOXO talk is something I come back to and watch again every once in a while. That idea of "you have no obligation to your former self" (and especially the way Hank explores it in his talk) is definitely one of the best pieces of advice I've ever been given.
There's an arguement to be had against having infinite rewards, though: as David Foster Wallace put it (roughly): "worship beauty and you'll always feel ugly; worship money and you'll always feel poor; worship sociality and you'll always feel alone". Now, worship, of course, is a strong word and ought to perhaps be assessed separately on the spectrum of desire, but I would assume finite projects to give more concrete sensation of reward upon completion. At the very least I would recommend not avoiding finite rewards for the sake variety, as pointed out by rule #4.
For some people this works well. They might be ok with not having the greatest job or anything. But it's not that they stopped needing rewards, it's more that they find it elsewhere I think. They have a family, they have hobbies, they have a fulfilling life in general.
this is completely irrelevant. wheezy is talking about meaning, not worship, these are completely different things. wheezy isn't worshipping curiosity, he's finding meaning in being curious. and David wasn't railing against the "infinite" nature of things like money or beauty, in that same speech he mentions religion/god as a better alternative to those things, and what's more infinite than god? and besides, the entire speech is about recognizing our own ability to direct our attention, which is exactly what wheezy did in overcoming burnout.
As an aspiring animator. I was so focused on making animation to find a job, I burnt out because there was no meaning to my work. I’m slowly finding it and so much happier that way. I’m fine doing animation on the side as long as I’m doing work I wanna do while balancing it with stuff that will get me a job. Btw congrats on almost one million subs! I honestly have watched your videos for years and I never thought the Internet was mature enough for your content. Good work!
"Turn your hobby into your job!" - Worst advice ever. Your hobby should be something fun. Yes, you can set yourself some goals within your hobby but at the end of the day, your hobby should only be connected to the fun you get from it. And fun can mean lots of things. Enjoying it, smiling, laughing, getting a thrill out of it, relaxing, chilling, whatever. As soon as you turn it into your job, you connect it with obligations, with rules and a mindset of "having to do it." Yes, you should enjoy your job and you should find meaning in it but you also need something that is 100% seperated from it.
I've turned my job into my hobby. I'm researching how my job was done in the medieval days and across various cultures because I'm a scientist but also a history nerd and I absolutely love my job.
This is especially true for artists: my sister was commissioned about 10 years ago to do a portrait for a lady who owned a framing shop in our town. Having a deadline, feeling pressured to sign a contract with the shop owner & not being emotionally connected in any way to the subject of her painting made her realize that trying to make money like that was going to make her miserable!
I'm actually in the middle of healing my current burnout, so it's kinda nice to see this video and see what you found out :) I'm a vfx artist in the entertainment industry, basically cgi destruction and magic and all sorts of simulations. I worked on my craft for 3 years, and have been in the industry for about 3 years professionally after that. The love started with making my own content, then once I was making art for studios and making things exactly to their specification, I think that's when my love for it started to die slowly. It's weird because, it feels like the ultimate form of creativity where you're making stuff that existed in your imagination, into a 3D reality that can look as photo-realistic as possible, but you're not doing it for yourself, you're doing it for an art director. You're creating something from nothing, but it's constantly judged how it can be better multiple times a day, and on a short deadline. I knew I was burning out, I knew by working as hard as I was in vfx, that I was burning the candle at both ends, but I had the goal of paying off my student loans. I was really good at negotiating and upping my salary from gig to gig, up until I eventually paid off around $100,000 of my student loans in 2.5 years. That moment was back in October 2019, and so I felt less constrained to the debt and felt like I can choose where I want to go, and not worry. But by that point, I burnt myself so hard, that during my last gig in november-december 2019, my work was suffering. Even doing easy stuff was challenging. It got so bad, that I had to start anxiety medication for the first time in my life because I was visibly shaking and paralyzed from doing a bad job. After that, I decided to use the money I made from that gig to take off January and just remember what it was like to be a human being again, who's not constantly getting home late from overtime, or getting a quick bite from a lot of processed foods. January is almost over now, and taking that break helped balance out a lot of things I wanted to do in life, but never had time to. First and foremost, I traveled a lot, being outside as much as possible, going on road trips and hikes, etc. I got my diet in order and actually learned how to cook real, healthy stuff. My skin is appreciating it. I'm back in the gym, and visiting my family and all these other things, blah blah blah. What was scary during that time of healing, was that it made me wonder if vfx was for me, and if I actually liked to do it. That was super scary, because I had gotten this far, and so to change to something else now would just feel like a waste of the thing I just built. I think the major benefit of being a creative, is that you can use the thing you love, to make stuff for yourself. I've always had grand ambitions of making my own personal projects, but I was in no state of mind to start them when I was in my break. It reminded me too much of work and I needed that separation time to give my brain a break from seeing it as work, as the enemy, etc. Eventually I tried to get myself into the art, by doing just little small things for myself. Random things with particles flowing around, and just digital blobs and things that were made out of pure randomness and my own interest. I liked it, It was a lot of fun and I found myself wanting to do more and making it cooler. So, we are currently at around that point, I'm slowly doing more and more random projects to remind myself of why I like this thing I can do. It does feel very helpful. In the future, I think I will make this monthly break a trend for me, hopefully twice a year, but I'll settle for atleast one. It feels really healthy to take those breaks in between periods where everything is fine! You're giving yourself that time to be a human, and not work long enough to see your art as a bad thing. I want to say, I wish I had been doing this when I was paying off the loans, but honestly I do feel like it was worth it to work 3 straights years to get myself to this point earlier. I wouldn't have learned these important lessons if I didn't, and I don't think I would have really appreciated those breaks or how important my health is until you face the consequences. That's how I learn anyways. So yah, thanks for making this video, I hope this reading was somewhat helpful.
*Isn’t a month-long break pretty standard in Europe? That kind of thing is just a human BARE necessity. Some people will need even more than that to be healthy*
oh this video is perfect for me right now, a combination of perfectionism and seasonal depression (as well as just actual depression) has made me stop drawing for months and i'm trying very hard to get back into it and not let the frustration overwhelm me.
I'm currently listening to the audiobook version of 'the subtle art of not giving a f*ck'. I can really recommend it, made me realize some things I should definitely change
how about trying out some other kind of art? or try learning a language? write a book ... maybe a new sport? an old friend of mine was realy pissed that i stopped playing guitar, he couldnt understand that i changed over the last 6 years. the amount of work i had to put in to improve wasn't worth it for me... like vera said, i reached a level i was realy pleased with, but i didn't want to improve anymore. there are so much more options to do. i wanted to improve in other stuff. i noticed i'm now open for way more stuff then back than and i do learn a lot. it's not this autistic "i want to know everything as fast as possible!" like it was with the guitar before, also sometimes i try to much at the same time, so i get a bit confused :D but im also getting into a way more variety of themes like interpersonal relationships, sports, nature and artifical arts. and for me, who have been a gaming nerd my whole life, this is quite a change.
Just a friendly bit of encouragement: a good saying that helps me pull through and out of my depressive episodes is: "this, too, shall pass." May sound cliche, but it's true! You know how depression works -- it invades your mind and body and convinces you it's here to stay -- until it isn't. So even though it's hard, remind yourself of all the tough stuff in your past that truly did eventually pass (whether it stopped or you found a healthier way to cope with it). :) "This, too, shall pass."
I do this often! It's a pain in the ass because I'll spend money I don't have on the things I'll need to start a new project that has promise, but then hyper focus and research and fixate to the point of burning out before I do any of it myself
Yep, that sounds like ADHD. I know because I have it. It's such a challenging thing to deal with, and a lot of the time I just feel stuck while I watch my life go by. Screw giving up tho, I just wish there was more help for it since I can't take traditional ADHD meds
I'm taking a class that's about burnout in my field and this video is so relevant to all the readings we've been doing! I love the reminder that it's a *job* which means you can walk away from it
i actually started watching you again after a long break because you transformed your content into being just as nice and silly, but having a purpose and that curiosity ingredient you talked about. humanity is amazing, and so is life around us, and living becomes 100 times better experience when you appreciate it :) proud of you and looking forward to more wheezy content
I haven't watched your videos in years... and suddenly this video pops up in my recommended list. It was needed because I'm currently suffering from burnout. It's almost as if this was chosen for me. Thank you WheezyWaiter
This is an awesome video. I've battled burnout for my entire career, and I think you just helped me realize that I've never truly recovered from it. Appreciate your work. It's helping me figure out my own next chapters in life.
I recently went through that. After 20 years in the same daytime career and 10 years of turning my hobby into a business I burnt out. Unfortunately it took getting very sick to realize it. It took Cancer, a pituitary tumor and a round of Pneumonia to slow me down and listen to my body and mind screaming at me to stop and re-prioritize. I still did both jobs, but gave up my physical office, the daily videos (which will come back when I am ready) and changing the direction of who I was trying to reach. I have always loved helping people, but learned I really wanted to help people who were ready to make lasting change, not the quick fixes. This has made a huge difference. I feel fed energetically, by the people I work with and it is a two way street. To anyone else going through this, he is right, a job is just a job. People change paths all the time. For me just knowing that allowed me to "choose" to stay where I am and it became a choice rather than feeling stuck. Do not allow yourself to get sick before you make needed changes. Spend time with yourself and the people that you love.
Hearing directly that untreated burnout can cause anxiety and depression really hits home for me. I've been trying to make it as a full time artist for 7 years now through my comic and freelance and gone through more burnout phases than I can count. I developed anxiety early on, and fast forward to now, I can't function without antidepressants. It really, really sucks to know that I gave myself mental illness in pursuit of stability in a creative career. I broke myself and it's awful, 0/10 would not recommend. I'm going to really try to get better. Thank you for the video.
Hi Craig, just wanted to let you know that your videos always make me feel better when I've had to drop something due to migraine. They always give me that "hey, you haven't actually ruined everything and it'll be okay" boost.
good video! I'm an indie game developer and I've gone through the burn out process a couple of times and I'm slowly approaching another one - its common in gamedev. Those numbered steps are great but I'd also like to add: the process of talking with someone like Kati is a step that cannot be overlooked; find someone you can talk to and get an outside, unbiased view on your situation. It's really easy to live and stay inside your own head.
I watched your stuff once in a while back in the day when you did mostly TH-cam entertainment stuff. I'm very happy and grateful that your content has kept changing over the years and I'm a diehard fan now. Love your content, thank you.
Hi Craig, This video popped up from the algorithm today, when I'm having a rough time with work. I was fully engrossed start to finish and it has totally changed my mood. Thank you! Your recent videos have been so thoughtfully made and I always end them admiring the effort and care put in. You should be very proud of your work.
This doesn't only apply to work but for me, I'm a college student and feel burnt out on the daily. I'm turning 22 next month and I've changed my major like 5 times already. I'm currently finishing my pre-reqs to apply to the nursing program and keep wondering if it's the right choice for me. I just need to keep reminding myself my purpose!! Thank you for the video. I really needed this reminder. Good luck to you, Craig!
8:46 If you were crying, I wanna let you know that I feel for you and I want to share with you that I also have struggles to keep up the work I do. I study medicine, and it can be stressful at times. Keep up the good work, I am enjoying your videos and your perspective on many subjects. I appreciate your efforts and hope you will continue to find joy in making these videos, or in any other field in the future. Thank you!
Weird example but this is one of the reasons why Pewdiepie was successful, he changed his whole channels direction at least 3 times, and he definitely lost some subs whenever that transition happened but for the most part it benefited because after changing things up he had that passion again and it showed in the quality of the videos and in the enthusiasm towards subjects. For the people that have followed him for many years these transitions were great, it was hard to keep watching his stuff when it was clear he wasn't interested. I'm happy to see you shifting this way too! I assure you that we your audience will still be here because it will be so nice to see you with passion for your work again!
I'm glad this type of video format makes you happier now, Craig. This video also reminded me how much I enjoyed the free bagel friday bit and how much i loved 2011~ era wheezywaiter. but i also like this. so thank u
As a newer, "older" YTuber trying to figure my channel out, I have watched sooooo many YT help videos from tech people and other YTbers, but I found this video spoke to me. Thank you - very much.
Same for me but with programming. When I was a preteen writing software and creating web pages was the ultimate form of creativity. It was like playing with Legos combined with an interactive mystery story mixed with having a paintbrush and a canvas. When I got a job as a software engineer I hated the work. I was given a task and told to go do it, over and over again. My coworkers were conceited as all getup, considering themselves the best in the world and everyone else in the world as inferior. This lead to a horrible culture. But I discovered R&D jobs where a company would dream of a new tech no one in the world had done yet or would think is possible. They would ask me to demonstrate viability and develop a proof of concept. Like the mystery in my childhood I would fall in love figuring out and solving these difficult problems. Today this is called Data Science, and I am grateful to do what I love, despite the difficult road getting there.
Yes! I lived most of my life with this dream of getting paid for doing what I love most, which is making things with my hands (jewelry, hand-dyed yarn, etc.). When I had the chance to do that for a living, I started hating making things pretty quickly, and made them frantically, in a haze of anger and resentment. I now think of my regular job as a way to preserve that enjoyment.
Loved you then; still love you now! 😊👏🏻 It's been rewarding just to watch your journey over the years and to grow with you (in theory). You and the vlogbros are the only youtubers I have consistently followed for, like, 10 years. So...yeah. Thanks, man.
This is such a fresh new perspective for me. I never thought about it that way. Genuinely grateful for the insight!...and the jokes. You always make me laugh and give me food for thought.
Thanks for this video. I've been burnt out a few times, although I didn't always recognise it as such. Now I know the signs and can take steps to work on it, but I didn't always. I work in healthcare as a resident care aide in an assisted living facility, which is a bit different here in Canada than down in the States. I worked in home support before I started my current job six years ago, and the first time I knew that I had burnout was in that job. It was pointed out to me by the case manager for two of my clients at the time. She removed me from doing care for one of the clients since it was due to that person and one of their family members that I had burnout. Just that removal worked wonders and I had a lot less stress as my other clients didn't cause me nearly the same level of stress or anxiety that that one client, etc., did. I got along with them as people, but there were aspects of doing that person's care in his parents' home that were unreasonable. Anyway, I've learned to recognise the signs of burnout and know what works for me to relieve it. Normally it's just a lot milder and is usually due to me becoming overly worried about stuff when I don't need to be. I had another bad bout of burnout earlier this year, and it was worse than that other one. So many things happened at once to me. I received an eviction notice - not due to anything I'd done, but because the place where I was living was being sold, although later on when I tried to contest it, false claims were made in order to try to keep me from fighting the eviction notice, and I just gave in and gave up because by that time, I was much too exhausted and had absolutely no fight left in me for anything. I also had some financial problems, which I'm still dealing with. Then my mother, who'd been steadily declining, although it wasn't obvious until Christmas and New Years, died at the end of January. That alone would've been enough to push me over the edge, but it was made worse because of those other two things, as well as, yes, there're three more things, there were troubles at work that affected everyone, especially in my particular location, and I got COVID-19, which led to an infection in a benign cyst that I'd found a couple of decades earlier, but it was left in my right breast because it wasn't causing me any problems. I know that COVID-19 can't be said to be the official cause of the infection - the doctors certainly wouldn't say it - but the timing is there, and I had absolutely no signs of infection there until a few days after I got COVID-19. The infection was so bad that I would've lost that breast or even died if I hadn't gone to the ER to get it treated. Anyway, I'm all better now & there's just a scar there. I'm living in a much better place for my cat and me, and so the eviction turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Work stuff is still there, but to a lot lesser degree. My finances still aren't great, but they're slowly improving. I'll never really get over losing my mom, and I'll always think about her every day, but the ache's very slowly easing up. The biggest thing that helped with this is something that I wish everyone could do. I booked my first vacation of this year for the last two weeks of April. My boss was trying to fight me on this, but I said over and over that I really needed this with the year I was having. My coworkers fought for me, and everyone banded together to made sure I got those two weeks. My boss couldn't really fight it and did find people to replace me - that was her biggest concern. Those two weeks were so healing for me. Burnout is not a fun thing and can do a lot of harm, but if a person can find ways to deal with it and to cope and the like, however they can do that, then it's possible to get past it. It's not easy, and sometimes burnout takes a long time to get over, but it can be done, even though it's a struggle. Find even one person to talk to and get the support needed. That was the biggest help for me - the support of family and friends. Yes, and my cat.
Hey Wheeze, thanks for making this video. I'm always happy when people share these sorts of struggles, especially when they have jobs that others might consider 'perfect'. Even in a perfect job, you can get burned out. There was something I wanted to mention though and this isn't a critique on you or your video, but rather our understanding of burnout and lack of terminology. Burnout is an umbrella term that is often used for anything from 'I'm stressed' or 'I'm not enjoying this thing I'm doing anymore' to a serious mental and physical breakdown. I find the lack of specificity in this term (specifically in English) problematic because it leads to a situation in which people who need serious help aren't taking seriously because 'all you have to do is find your motivation and you'll be fixed'. When in fact burnout can have far more serious consequences than 'just' that (not to say that that isn't already bad enough! It absolutely is serious to get into that place where you feel resentful of a thing that you used to love and don't know -yet- why or how to fix it). Feeling a disconnect with one or more parts of your life is, one of the first steps leading towards what is more of a medical burnout. When people don't catch that early enough (like you did manage to do!) and keep going, maybe even doubling down to 'fix it', stress levels rise or remain high constantly and the body starts to adapt. Eventually possibly leading to a complete mental & physical collapse. By that I mean, not just being tired or depressed, but being so fatigued, for so many months, that you can't remember how to make a sandwich. I mean that literally, I mean literally not knowing how anymore. Besides the cognitive difficulties like diminished capacity, (imagine no longer understanding how to edit video, kind of knowing but being unable to get there, even though it's so natural to you) concentration and memory (I forgot whole months at a time). It also leads to all kinds of physical problems, sleep is a big one but also headaches, stomach aches, infections, ulcers, muscle pain, you name it. Stress can even make you go blind! It's a serious thing. People who get to this stage usually need months or years to recover and are often never the same again. They'll often struggle with stimuli their whole life, as if the brain suffered a major injury and never fully recovered. I feel like we need names for these things. Because calling all of these things 'burnout' does a disadvantage to those in a serious state who need help in order to ever get better, but often aren't taken seriously. I'm very glad that you caught yours at a time when it was helpful for you and that you've been able to take these steps. I hope that more people, after seeing your video, will be able to do so too. That way they never have to end up at that other stage :)
So glad to have found you. I use CC to help in my teaching and I always enjoyed your videos, especially the humor and energy you brought to those concepts. I am experiencing burning out teaching from home during COVID019 and this video helped me realize some of my issues. Keep up the good work and thanks for making and posting this video.
This entire video was fantastic, but the last 90 seconds were packed with numerous jokes that had me all smiles and uproarious chuckles, I wasn't prepared for such delight. Thank you for the quality content, Craig!
Hello Mr.Waiter dude. I just rediscovered your channel again and resubscribed but I wanna say BIGTHANKS because I was redpilled by reddit as a teenager and a big thing that made me do a 180 was your channel. You taught me how to USE. MY. NOODLE. and from there it was just a domino effect of learning, reading, listening, pondering. I'm almost 30 now and appreciate all the work that made me....Me!
Can I just say that you regularly make me laugh until I cry. Today it was: "unlimited bandwidth...I don't know about bandheight...probably." I just lost it. Thank you for doing what you do.
I really needed to hear this, especially the part about finding out what your *true* motivation is. I've been struggling to maintain momentum when it comes to creating content for my channel and this really helped me re-evaluate what's important. Thanks!
I'm glad I've kept a planner for the last few years because it'll help me answer some of these questions. I`ve randomly been motivated enough to do a project consistently and then it's dropped to the point where I avoided continuing so I think if I go back and check I'll be able to find a pattern and learn what motivates me and what I see as a reward. Thank you for this, it was REALLY needed. Even took notes Lol
I burned out last year after my mom passed away. It made me question everything (the foolishness of the work I was doing and for who, the foolishness of social media like Facebook, the foolishness of our country, etc.). It was basically a midlife crisis fire-sale. But eventually I let the embers smolder out and am now working on re-invention/renewal. Such is life. Glad to know that someone else has walked thru that fire. Thanks for the video & keep the magic coming.
Good video. Not only is it entertaining, but you are great at talking us through your whole thought process in a way that is easy to follow and relatable. I guess that counts as a meaningful video.
I love the distinction that the reward needs to be worth the work, and how the reward isn't just money. When Kati said "connectivity" it really hit home for me.
Hi, I don't post on your videos, except for this one, but I do watch them all! I just wanted to stop in and quickly say thank you. The way you insert comedy with education, makes the learning part fun. I enjoy your funny.
I realize there are a lot of sources for burnout, but I love you you presented it with humor! I often tune out lectures, even when my life/career depends on the content, but yours was fun and informative and I feel like I... actually paid attention the whole time? Really appreciate this one. 😄
I think I've been through some sort of social burnout. Having come from being antisocial and having 0 friends it was almost as though I felt the need to prove to myself that I *could* be friends with anyone. This led me to spending wayy too much time and energy on trying to connect with people that just weren't interested in connecting with me. Seeing this video helped me realise that burnout can be so much more than the stereotypical "rolling around on the floor hyperventilating because your body can't handle the stress" and might be harder to recognise.
I remember being subscribed when you have 30K followers and your content was hilarious and underrated. Then I could tell when you started to burn out. I am so happy you've found your way again! 993K subscribers now?! amazing!!!!!!
After years of wanting to write, and express the ideas in my head, I finally, FINALLY had the chance to do it, because I thought I has good, clever ideas and I wanted to prove that to myself, and get past the horrible and toxic abuse which convinced me all through my childhood that I was worthless, stupid, and boring. So I started writing. A LOT. And I got encouragement from a MUCH more popular writer who I respected, who called ME a genius with some things and he was very encouraging. And he convinced me to join a few writing communities to share my ideas. And I thought things were good and they were very supportive. But the communities did not stay supportive…one was a forum where many of my most detailed ideas would be almost completely ignored, at least in comparison to others of a similar vein. The other was a Discord server which was based on fans of that more popular author who was supporting me. I didn’t wave my flag over him liking my works because I didn’t want to ride his coattails. But he had co-authors. And the co-authors had “friends” who had no problem using that influence to take moderator positions on the server, even though they were toxic, completely self-absorbed A-Holes. And eventually I started being freezed out, insulted and generally degraded until it was very clear that one particular mod hated my guts and wanted me gone, and he was chomping at the bit, *waiting* for the chance that I might do something that he could ban me for instead of having to settle for saying “That’s fucking stupid” whenever I tossed out a random idea for a story, OR just a question, or something I thought could spark an interesting debate. (Fuck you, Spoken. Die in a fire.) But the thing is, that author I was friends with couldn’t pull rank, which was fair. What *isn’t* fair was that while complimenting me, he started asking me to write stuff about things that interested himself, and not me…and then asking me to write stories which were basically spin-offs to *his* work. I said I didn’t want to ride his coattails. That *also* meant I did not want to just become his goddamn hypeman for *his* stuff. I did it once. For fun, because it was a favor for a friend. And then he started offering his own opinion on my stories, and throwing stuff in which went completely against the tone of my own plots and work, like he didn’t even care enough to adapt whatever he thought of in order to fit the world I was building. As an example of “Not fitting”, imagine for a moment that while Tolkien was researching and fleshing out Lord of the Rings, imagine if someone asked him, “Why not throw in guns, and the effects they had on war, like WWI Trench warfare?” That kind of blind disconnect is what was happening. And the guy started pestering me about it. Every. Day. For. Months. “Feel like writing yet?” “Any ideas so far?” It didn’t come off as supportive. It came off as manipulative, like I was being used. And as someone who had been dealing with a toxic upbringing *and* a toxic living situation with huge self-esteem problems, being USED for self-gratification and ego-stroking rubbed my nerves raw. Couple that with the fact that two communities where I was exposing my ideas and inner-thoughts started outright ignoring me or being passive-aggressively hostile towards me. (As opposed to completely anonymous commentary on my stories which had been overwhelmingly positive) and you can understand how I would shut down my urge to write, when it was becoming my release valve, my way to channel the beautiful ideas that I’d wanted to share for over 15 years before I even *knew* any of these people. Now when I write it’s *only* been for ME. I haven’t shared it anywhere, and the stuff ends up being very quick, rough and short ideas anyway, because being ignored OR having that one pestering jackass go “Hey, you’re writing again! You wanna COMPLETELY CHANGE TRACKS to write about this random-ass thing that *I* know about and you’ve never heard of, *solely* because I want you to write about it instead of just doing it myself?!” I want to write my own shit again, and not have it feel like a chore, and not have it go through a complete tonal shift just because I’m not the same person I was when I started the damn things. I was more…hopeful then, and I *felt* at the time that I was happier than I am now. Thought thankfully I know that’s a damn lie, because on January 21st 2020, I moved out of the utterly horrific co-dependent situation I’d been manipulated into, and if I hadn’t done that, I would’ve become an alcoholic or committed suicide, 100% fact. Basically, on top of all the other crap, writing was also my subconscious way to ease stress. And now that I’m on my own and my life is WAY less stressful, my subconscious won’t pump out the inspiration juices since I’m *content* now…and burned out. I hope that can change. I really, *really* do.
Exactly!!!! Spot on! I have been trying to do art for a few years while being depressed and anxious and going down a very deep dark hole and seeing no way out. Decided to start participating in life rather and get some structure.(besides no one cares and somehow everyone needs to carry on) What about doing a random job in a community and go from there... Then inspiration for music or art (or whatever) comes by itself and it's not forced and you do not have to do it every day. I don't even know how to explain, but you did it perfectly. :D
Great video, Craig! This was encouraging for me. I write fiction and fanfiction as a hobby and share it online. I have a pretty supportive readership and I used to post chapters nearly every week for several months last year, but I haven't been able to write much recently. I still love my stories and want to finish them, but I feel a little burnt out. I think following your advice may help me fall in love with my hobby again!
Good on you mate. Always loved your stuff eventhough I haven't watched any of it in like a year. Guess I've been distracted by other things. Which happens. Thabkyou again for another interesting and amusing video.
I'm totally feeling that with my artwork. Hugs all round. So happy for you that you turned that huge corner and came out the other side.... right. I'm off to find that fun about my art again... sweet potato? In New Zealand we call it Kumara (Māori).
Wheezy, this strange, odd, unbelievably brilliant video has changed my life. I'm just a guy in Florida, burned out, but you have sparked ideas for me to help with my career. (Not a youtuber, just a regular guy.) Thank you so much for making this.
It's is very important to also not have just one thing you love doing but multiple to spread the load in a sense -gardening -gaming -machining -cycling My 4 favourite pastimes (machining is my actual job) Gardening on its own is already rewarding either a pretty flower or a yummy veggie that you wouldn't be able to buy at stores , machining is just satisfying to hear the machine under load and watching those metal chips fly, games are for when the garden is inaccessible (night/rain) and the bike is just a great exercise machine and an excuse to get in my car and drive 2 hours to be out in nature
I love what you learned and the direction of your channel! I just discovered you, and I honestly would never have subscribed before, just for funny, goofiness. I love the curiosity, intelligence (and humor, yes, goofiness in the midst of purpose is fun) in your more recent work.
As someone who has experienced burnout, this video was a charming way of helping me confront my own past failures and look forward to attaining reasonable goals
What I love about your videos: I learn genuinely helpful stuff. I laugh soooo much. The inspiring editing style (i’m a professional motion designer). Keep doing you and we‘ll be watching 😊😊 great stuff.
It's like new year resolutions, ppl go overboard with it, get burnt out and quit. If you want to form a new habit - maybe life-long - then you need to avoid negative feelings associated with it, let it take time, and don't do it if you don't feel like it. I got gym membership 3-4 months ago, with the intention of going 3 times/week, I'm not really even consistently doing 2 yet, but that's fine, i actually feel psyched up when i do. Actually i stopped myself getting to excited about it, cause i felt i'd risk getting burnt out if i kept that pace. Basically i think that if you don't like your situation, you need to become a different person; it's the person you are, that put you there in the first place. You can't just start a new routine, if it doesn't fit who you are, and expect your life to change. You need to reevaluate your perception and understanding of things, and new habits and routines will follow.
Art college was the moment i found myself and had to deal with my traumas. I didn't realise how tired of life i was and the college itself was EXTREMELY tough. 9AM-9PM. Was at home around 12PM and THEN had to catch up coding exams. It took me 5 times before i would finish python exam. Because it was a constant struggle of not passing A so focus on B, then do C and focus on finishing A but finding out you've failed B. I spent 2 years prepping myself for the AAA industry and was ready but then my schoolbag with my equipement got stolen. and no savings build because of no time nor energy for work put me in a burnout. After half a year i went back to college, realizing my art levels were below indie games, tempo(by god my tempo) was decreased with 300% and my working hours decreased to only 2-3 hours a day. Now with 60k in debt only one project left to finish college, there's no way to make fat bucks and find joy in the AAA again. So i am close to my 2nd burnout age 24. My brain is just damaged beyond repair and so i am building a franchise about things that i love. Which is hentai. It keeps me going, i get appreciation and hype from friends. And honetly, its the best thing that happened to me since all the shit.
Hi Craig. I've been worried about you for a couple years now. I hope this video (topic) helps lift you out of this funk you've been in for a while now. Please know that your are loved and respected by thousands of people out here. I've been watching you since early days (early Chicago, just completely silly videos). You seem like a very good person, and I always look forward to your videos. You bring joy into the world. Thank you.
This video!! As a creative, I always feel guilty when I don't feel like making art. I've always had an all or nothing mindset. Also, I seriously love all of your videos, so freakin funny and educational at the same time. Thank you for doing what you do.
I feel like a complete stranger at the business I OWN. Literally had thoughts about rejoining the workforce of 9-5 or a different focus, knowing later I would regret it.
@@bonniebelle4130 I know them Very well. As my business grew I needed more mechanics. I tracked down ex-coworkers that worked with me at a shop with a really toxic and stressful Owner for years. I started there as a helper and worked my way up to manager.
@struthless coined it like this: "Your hobbies don't need to be your jobbies.", basically, it's ok to not turn the stuff you love doing into a job, it might ruin the stuff you love doing for you.
I'm 34 and I still have no hope or dreams. I always thought it would come along, but here I am still playing video games and working at dead and jobs that just get me by. I feel like my life is wasting away.
I'm a video production specialist in the U.S. military. I'm burnt out, I have 2 years left in my 7 year contract. I was able to relieve that for about a year by learing social media and broadcast analytics and making that my job. Leadership changed and I went back to video production agian. Now that I know how to interpret analytics, my job has even less meaning and I'm burnt out way more. Nothing I'm doing has any impact and my other talents are going to waste. I feel guilty becuase other members in the military have it way worse. I'm still searching for meaning... i might not find it in the next 2 years and if I don't I can move on. This video helped me reaffirm that without a purpose you cannot overcome burnout.
It’s so funny that this video came out because I’m feeling this right now. I left uni, tried to get a job, failed for a long time but thought it was maybe me telling myself that that sort of work wasn’t going to make me feel fulfilled. Maybe the reason I was failing was because I didn’t put full passion into interviews or job searching in that field, whatever. I tried to start my own business. I started 2 blogs and then a TH-cam channel. Not going to lie, things haven’t worked out. Being my own boss has made me lonely. I’m not being rewarded, in meaning or money, equal to the effort I’ve put in. I’m now thinking, maybe I need to give myself a break, forget working for myself for now. Go and work for someone else, let them tell me what to do, for the first time in 2 years. Give myself some meaning, earn so I can do what I like. Make life just that little bit easier, in one sense. I’m feeling down about the whole thing and this video was more than required tonight.
Thank you for letting me be in your video!! I love how it turned out and I hope others found it helpful as well :)
Love ur videos Kati x
@@ellieb8171 Hi Ellie. Thanks for the nice words. :)
Thanks for keeping Craig alive. 😅
Nice
Awesome colab!
Omg I didn't realise he was in a video call with Katie 😂 I thought he was watching one of her videos so when he was talking and she replied I was like wait what?! Haha
Hahaha same! She was talking about connecting with her audience and I found it weird she wasn't looking in the camera.
I literally scrolled down to comment that!
I literally read this comment, and assumed that this Katie girl was later in the video bc I still thought we were just watching one of her videos😂😂😂😂
I thought he just scripted his video around her video to make it seem that way.
Same!
Hey Wheeze, long time listener, first time caller.
Seriously, I remember the wild days from before you had even met Chyna (or told us about her), it's been a while and I'm glad you and your little family are doing really well.
I wanted to say thank you for all the videos up to this point and thank you for this one specifically. This is something I've been actively dealing with probably the better part of the last two years or so and it's been really rough and I feel sort of lost at the moment; I know things will turn around once I can get my feet planted and doing something good again.
I think the biggest thing for me about "burnout" is that I guess technically I was already burned out like 3-4 years ago, but as certain projects have fizzled out it's become omnipresent and in the way for so many things that I've tried to do since.
I didn't know it until it was too late.
This year I'm trying to get back to my original purpose, which is just simply to try and connect emotionally with others. The thing that made me fall in love with music was having guys like Chester Bennington and James Hetfield and others yelling in my ear about all the things I was going through at the time, and I connected emotionally to that. My path to that has gotten lost trying to get an audience and get heard and "the industry" and I've got to figure out my way out of the grind. It's the grind that turns me off.
I looked back at a lot of the stuff I've done over the past decade plus and I'm super proud of all of it, but it really bums me out how few people care or cared over the years so I've just gotta get back to that. Doing the work and who cares who sees it or hears it. I've got to get back to just enjoying the work again and not seeing it as work, and if there's a path to an audience they can take it but I don't have to.
It's all really tough to figure out but I know that I will and I know that it will be worth it, and again back to the original point of this comment, thank you for this video. I don't know if it will help moving forward but it's helped right now. I feel better knowing that it isn't me, and it isn't just me, and there is a way through this. I know that some of the things I have planned for this year are in line with some of the things you've done to get through this, and even if it doesn't really work, at least I've tried something different.
Again, thank you, Craig. For everything.
good.fuckin.post.
Best of luck, Tom. Sending you good vibes for 2020.
As someone who started his Wheezy journey a similar amount of years ago, this sums things up so well!
Move ahead, Mr. Most of the time the person has all that he needs to get out of wrong places. Good luck, there.
“You had to have been on fire in order to burnout.” That’s the only thing I remember from my thesis on the subject when I was graduating in psychology. Huh.
Does that have anything to do with someone thinking they're hot stuff?
@@nakyer but of course! Either that, or maybe venereal disease.
He was on fire! Probably all those explosion Wednesdays.
@@Meowvalous1 It could have been a "I ate nothing but beans for a month. Here's what happened" thing.
@@ellieisbusy That would be explosive..💥
I am writing a book for the last 5 years, and it's been through a number of revisions after getting feedback from readers. I finally went to a professional editor, paid for her services and everything, and when it came time for me to do my part... I couldn't do it. It felt... the worst. I felt hurt, and incapable, and I hated the thought of sitting and reading all the ways my book went wrong, like a constant torture. I didn't notice that I haven't written anything for a few months, which is a lot for me, I love to write and therefore always have a few projects on the side. When I told my feelings to the editor, she told me that I'm not ready to do it and should stop. Which made me feel even worse. I keep wandering what is wrong with me, am I too childish? Is it depression? Am I broken?
This video made me think that perhaps I'm burned out and haven't realized. That the thing that brought me joy no longer brings me joy. I just want to be done with it. The reward I get from writing is reading and enjoying the story unfolding, and seeing others enjoy the story too. I haven't felt that in a long time. This video makes me think that I need to reconsider my purpose, my meaning.
I hope it gets better. I still want to get my book published. Wish me luck...
I have been there! And I've been a writing coach! Feel free to disregard and totally chuck the following in the bin if it's not helpful! It's what's been helpful to me and other writers I've worked with, so YMMV.
The first thing to do (if you haven't started already) is to start writing again on your own terms, just stuff that's for you, that isn't for anybody else. Remind yourself why you love it! I have found it helpful when I am in a writing desert period of my life to just start anywhere, and remember that getting started sucks and usually (for me) doesn't feel great. But once I'm stuck in, I never regret it. And if I write every day, even a little bit, it really makes a huge difference overall.
Also? Once I started writing for the public, I found it helpful to get a creative hobby that wasn't writing (learning a difficult musical instrument or three has been good for me, for instance), and that was just for me, just because I enjoyed doing it.
When I was done with my first book and sent it off, I just didn't want to look at it anymore. I was DONE. I did end up going back and looking at everything and making the changes that needed to be made, but it was often torturous and infuriating work. I'd see an edit and want to throw my laptop across the room, for no apparent reason other than I was just DONE. I'm actually having to do that process again now for another book, but with a much bigger restructuring and a lot of rewrites, and I'm like, UUGGGHHHH. I think books just have a way of burning us out by the end. It's like, helloooooo I gave birth already why do I need to do this b.s. again? But that's where I remind myself that not every part of a great job is fun and enjoyable.
Anyway, I wish you luck and fortitude! You've got this! (Also, I should be writing and/or editing....)
@@flibbertygibbette thank you so much! A lot of it make so much sense. I think I will go back to writing fanfic for the heck of it, also draw again... Also also, I totally feel the birthing metaphor 😂😭
@@cenedra20 Yeah! There you go. And like, set aside some time today to write a bit, even if it's literally five minutes. Put it in your schedule. Sit in front of some paper or a screen or whatever you use to write, and even if you literally just write "this is dumb, i have nothing today, blah blah blah" for that few minutes, it's helpful. I have literally written that at the start of my writing time and then a few minutes later had major stuff open up, so just making the time (especially when you don't feel like it) helps.
I'd also like to add that you seem to be so close to an actually publishable book that it would be kind of a shame to throw that away. However it seems like you are too attached to the project and draw too much self respect from it. You need to get some distance to it and find your footing again in other things. Then, when you are more relaxed and have a new perspective, doing the final work will be much simpler.
Good luck!! You got this!!!
I am actually dealing with this right now! I have worked in video production for 8 years editing everything from tourism videos to online courses and I just can't do it anymore. My quality of work has suffered, I stopped making fun videos for myself, and have very little energy. I thought video production was what I was meant to be doing, it's what I went to school for!
So at 30, even though I am terrified, I quit my job and have decided I'm going to become an electrician, make videos for fun and keep bees with my boyfriend.
You can make vids of your bees!
@@MsKatyDidKnot you can but don't :P
That actually sound like a pretty dope plan :)
Save the Bees!!
Maybe things just have a shelf-life - an expiration date. And one day you may stumble across yet another new path -and take it (artisanal honey products from your hives, just for example, while still making your bread and butter as an electrician). Why not? Life is an ever-unfolding adventure!
I had a burnout from a bad job too and now my tolerance for "toxic" environment and sadly too, stress is soooooooooooooo low that i probably automatically cant burnout again anymore cuz i feel that thing coming way earlier.
Anyhow i leave a comment and a like to hopefully kick the algorithm in the bum sooooooo more ppl see u cuz i think ure the funniest dude evoor
I'm the same! After years of depression and recovering thanks to therapy, I CANNOT fall I the trap of burnout or let my boundaries be crossed any longer. It's really handy 🤔
@gg I actually got cure from therapy, and THEN I converted afterwards. I have a double shield now 😜
@gg I followed Jesus, almost got caught by the border patrol like he did :-|
I really hope you can avoid it.. I thought I wouldn't burn out again like 3 burn-outs ago. It's devious :-|
Hank's XOXO talk is something I come back to and watch again every once in a while. That idea of "you have no obligation to your former self" (and especially the way Hank explores it in his talk) is definitely one of the best pieces of advice I've ever been given.
There's an arguement to be had against having infinite rewards, though: as David Foster Wallace put it (roughly): "worship beauty and you'll always feel ugly; worship money and you'll always feel poor; worship sociality and you'll always feel alone". Now, worship, of course, is a strong word and ought to perhaps be assessed separately on the spectrum of desire, but I would assume finite projects to give more concrete sensation of reward upon completion. At the very least I would recommend not avoiding finite rewards for the sake variety, as pointed out by rule #4.
Well said.
For some people this works well. They might be ok with not having the greatest job or anything. But it's not that they stopped needing rewards, it's more that they find it elsewhere I think. They have a family, they have hobbies, they have a fulfilling life in general.
this is completely irrelevant. wheezy is talking about meaning, not worship, these are completely different things. wheezy isn't worshipping curiosity, he's finding meaning in being curious.
and David wasn't railing against the "infinite" nature of things like money or beauty, in that same speech he mentions religion/god as a better alternative to those things, and what's more infinite than god?
and besides, the entire speech is about recognizing our own ability to direct our attention, which is exactly what wheezy did in overcoming burnout.
As an aspiring animator. I was so focused on making animation to find a job, I burnt out because there was no meaning to my work. I’m slowly finding it and so much happier that way. I’m fine doing animation on the side as long as I’m doing work I wanna do while balancing it with stuff that will get me a job. Btw congrats on almost one million subs! I honestly have watched your videos for years and I never thought the Internet was mature enough for your content. Good work!
"Turn your hobby into your job!" - Worst advice ever. Your hobby should be something fun. Yes, you can set yourself some goals within your hobby but at the end of the day, your hobby should only be connected to the fun you get from it. And fun can mean lots of things. Enjoying it, smiling, laughing, getting a thrill out of it, relaxing, chilling, whatever. As soon as you turn it into your job, you connect it with obligations, with rules and a mindset of "having to do it." Yes, you should enjoy your job and you should find meaning in it but you also need something that is 100% seperated from it.
I've turned my job into my hobby. I'm researching how my job was done in the medieval days and across various cultures because I'm a scientist but also a history nerd and I absolutely love my job.
When you make your hobby your job, you have to find a different hobby.
This is especially true for artists: my sister was commissioned about 10 years ago to do a portrait for a lady who owned a framing shop in our town. Having a deadline, feeling pressured to sign a contract with the shop owner & not being emotionally connected in any way to the subject of her painting made her realize that trying to make money like that was going to make her miserable!
YES THIS THIIIIS
I'm actually in the middle of healing my current burnout, so it's kinda nice to see this video and see what you found out :) I'm a vfx artist in the entertainment industry, basically cgi destruction and magic and all sorts of simulations. I worked on my craft for 3 years, and have been in the industry for about 3 years professionally after that. The love started with making my own content, then once I was making art for studios and making things exactly to their specification, I think that's when my love for it started to die slowly. It's weird because, it feels like the ultimate form of creativity where you're making stuff that existed in your imagination, into a 3D reality that can look as photo-realistic as possible, but you're not doing it for yourself, you're doing it for an art director. You're creating something from nothing, but it's constantly judged how it can be better multiple times a day, and on a short deadline. I knew I was burning out, I knew by working as hard as I was in vfx, that I was burning the candle at both ends, but I had the goal of paying off my student loans.
I was really good at negotiating and upping my salary from gig to gig, up until I eventually paid off around $100,000 of my student loans in 2.5 years. That moment was back in October 2019, and so I felt less constrained to the debt and felt like I can choose where I want to go, and not worry. But by that point, I burnt myself so hard, that during my last gig in november-december 2019, my work was suffering. Even doing easy stuff was challenging. It got so bad, that I had to start anxiety medication for the first time in my life because I was visibly shaking and paralyzed from doing a bad job. After that, I decided to use the money I made from that gig to take off January and just remember what it was like to be a human being again, who's not constantly getting home late from overtime, or getting a quick bite from a lot of processed foods.
January is almost over now, and taking that break helped balance out a lot of things I wanted to do in life, but never had time to. First and foremost, I traveled a lot, being outside as much as possible, going on road trips and hikes, etc. I got my diet in order and actually learned how to cook real, healthy stuff. My skin is appreciating it. I'm back in the gym, and visiting my family and all these other things, blah blah blah. What was scary during that time of healing, was that it made me wonder if vfx was for me, and if I actually liked to do it. That was super scary, because I had gotten this far, and so to change to something else now would just feel like a waste of the thing I just built.
I think the major benefit of being a creative, is that you can use the thing you love, to make stuff for yourself. I've always had grand ambitions of making my own personal projects, but I was in no state of mind to start them when I was in my break. It reminded me too much of work and I needed that separation time to give my brain a break from seeing it as work, as the enemy, etc. Eventually I tried to get myself into the art, by doing just little small things for myself. Random things with particles flowing around, and just digital blobs and things that were made out of pure randomness and my own interest. I liked it, It was a lot of fun and I found myself wanting to do more and making it cooler.
So, we are currently at around that point, I'm slowly doing more and more random projects to remind myself of why I like this thing I can do. It does feel very helpful. In the future, I think I will make this monthly break a trend for me, hopefully twice a year, but I'll settle for atleast one. It feels really healthy to take those breaks in between periods where everything is fine! You're giving yourself that time to be a human, and not work long enough to see your art as a bad thing. I want to say, I wish I had been doing this when I was paying off the loans, but honestly I do feel like it was worth it to work 3 straights years to get myself to this point earlier. I wouldn't have learned these important lessons if I didn't, and I don't think I would have really appreciated those breaks or how important my health is until you face the consequences. That's how I learn anyways.
So yah, thanks for making this video, I hope this reading was somewhat helpful.
*Isn’t a month-long break pretty standard in Europe? That kind of thing is just a human BARE necessity. Some people will need even more than that to be healthy*
oh this video is perfect for me right now, a combination of perfectionism and seasonal depression (as well as just actual depression) has made me stop drawing for months and i'm trying very hard to get back into it and not let the frustration overwhelm me.
mood mood mood mood
I'm currently listening to the audiobook version of 'the subtle art of not giving a f*ck'. I can really recommend it, made me realize some things I should definitely change
how about trying out some other kind of art? or try learning a language? write a book ... maybe a new sport?
an old friend of mine was realy pissed that i stopped playing guitar, he couldnt understand that i changed over the last 6 years.
the amount of work i had to put in to improve wasn't worth it for me... like vera said, i reached a level i was realy pleased with, but i didn't want to improve anymore. there are so much more options to do. i wanted to improve in other stuff. i noticed i'm now open for way more stuff then back than and i do learn a lot. it's not this autistic "i want to know everything as fast as possible!" like it was with the guitar before, also sometimes i try to much at the same time, so i get a bit confused :D
but im also getting into a way more variety of themes like interpersonal relationships, sports, nature and artifical arts. and for me, who have been a gaming nerd my whole life, this is quite a change.
Just a friendly bit of encouragement: a good saying that helps me pull through and out of my depressive episodes is: "this, too, shall pass." May sound cliche, but it's true! You know how depression works -- it invades your mind and body and convinces you it's here to stay -- until it isn't.
So even though it's hard, remind yourself of all the tough stuff in your past that truly did eventually pass (whether it stopped or you found a healthier way to cope with it). :)
"This, too, shall pass."
Ommmgggg this was precisely me last year
I’ve watched a lot of your videos my friend - this is my favorite 😁👍
This is my first time seeing his video.
I burned out before I even began
You joke but that does happen.
I do this often! It's a pain in the ass because I'll spend money I don't have on the things I'll need to start a new project that has promise, but then hyper focus and research and fixate to the point of burning out before I do any of it myself
ADHD?
Yep, that sounds like ADHD. I know because I have it. It's such a challenging thing to deal with, and a lot of the time I just feel stuck while I watch my life go by. Screw giving up tho, I just wish there was more help for it since I can't take traditional ADHD meds
You have always inspired me man. Thank you for addressing this topic. I look forward to more of your great videos!
I'm taking a class that's about burnout in my field and this video is so relevant to all the readings we've been doing! I love the reminder that it's a *job* which means you can walk away from it
Super useful. Thanks for this
All these years later and You’re still making great content. Keep it up good sir.
i actually started watching you again after a long break because you transformed your content into being just as nice and silly, but having a purpose and that curiosity ingredient you talked about. humanity is amazing, and so is life around us, and living becomes 100 times better experience when you appreciate it :)
proud of you and looking forward to more wheezy content
I haven't watched your videos in years... and suddenly this video pops up in my recommended list. It was needed because I'm currently suffering from burnout. It's almost as if this was chosen for me. Thank you WheezyWaiter
This is an awesome video. I've battled burnout for my entire career, and I think you just helped me realize that I've never truly recovered from it.
Appreciate your work. It's helping me figure out my own next chapters in life.
I recently went through that. After 20 years in the same daytime career and 10 years of turning my hobby into a business I burnt out. Unfortunately it took getting very sick to realize it. It took Cancer, a pituitary tumor and a round of Pneumonia to slow me down and listen to my body and mind screaming at me to stop and re-prioritize. I still did both jobs, but gave up my physical office, the daily videos (which will come back when I am ready) and changing the direction of who I was trying to reach. I have always loved helping people, but learned I really wanted to help people who were ready to make lasting change, not the quick fixes. This has made a huge difference. I feel fed energetically, by the people I work with and it is a two way street. To anyone else going through this, he is right, a job is just a job. People change paths all the time. For me just knowing that allowed me to "choose" to stay where I am and it became a choice rather than feeling stuck. Do not allow yourself to get sick before you make needed changes. Spend time with yourself and the people that you love.
Hearing directly that untreated burnout can cause anxiety and depression really hits home for me. I've been trying to make it as a full time artist for 7 years now through my comic and freelance and gone through more burnout phases than I can count. I developed anxiety early on, and fast forward to now, I can't function without antidepressants. It really, really sucks to know that I gave myself mental illness in pursuit of stability in a creative career. I broke myself and it's awful, 0/10 would not recommend.
I'm going to really try to get better. Thank you for the video.
Hi Craig, just wanted to let you know that your videos always make me feel better when I've had to drop something due to migraine. They always give me that "hey, you haven't actually ruined everything and it'll be okay" boost.
good video! I'm an indie game developer and I've gone through the burn out process a couple of times and I'm slowly approaching another one - its common in gamedev. Those numbered steps are great but I'd also like to add: the process of talking with someone like Kati is a step that cannot be overlooked; find someone you can talk to and get an outside, unbiased view on your situation. It's really easy to live and stay inside your own head.
I watched your stuff once in a while back in the day when you did mostly TH-cam entertainment stuff. I'm very happy and grateful that your content has kept changing over the years and I'm a diehard fan now. Love your content, thank you.
Hi Craig,
This video popped up from the algorithm today, when I'm having a rough time with work. I was fully engrossed start to finish and it has totally changed my mood. Thank you!
Your recent videos have been so thoughtfully made and I always end them admiring the effort and care put in. You should be very proud of your work.
This doesn't only apply to work but for me, I'm a college student and feel burnt out on the daily. I'm turning 22 next month and I've changed my major like 5 times already. I'm currently finishing my pre-reqs to apply to the nursing program and keep wondering if it's the right choice for me. I just need to keep reminding myself my purpose!! Thank you for the video. I really needed this reminder. Good luck to you, Craig!
8:46
If you were crying, I wanna let you know that I feel for you and I want to share with you that I also have struggles to keep up the work I do. I study medicine, and it can be stressful at times.
Keep up the good work, I am enjoying your videos and your perspective on many subjects. I appreciate your efforts and hope you will continue to find joy in making these videos, or in any other field in the future.
Thank you!
Weird example but this is one of the reasons why Pewdiepie was successful, he changed his whole channels direction at least 3 times, and he definitely lost some subs whenever that transition happened but for the most part it benefited because after changing things up he had that passion again and it showed in the quality of the videos and in the enthusiasm towards subjects. For the people that have followed him for many years these transitions were great, it was hard to keep watching his stuff when it was clear he wasn't interested. I'm happy to see you shifting this way too! I assure you that we your audience will still be here because it will be so nice to see you with passion for your work again!
I'm glad this type of video format makes you happier now, Craig.
This video also reminded me how much I enjoyed the free bagel friday bit and how much i loved 2011~ era wheezywaiter. but i also like this. so thank u
As a newer, "older" YTuber trying to figure my channel out, I have watched sooooo many YT help videos from tech people and other YTbers, but I found this video spoke to me. Thank you - very much.
Almost to a million subs! I might not watch a lot anymore but I've been here checking in since 09! Happy for you!
I drew comic books for a while and burned out. Realized I’d rather make art for fun/myself than for a job. It took all the enjoyment out of it for me.
Yup. Photography for me.
this is the same reason I went to study chemical engineering instead of becoming a music producer. I love music as a form of therapy and fun.
Writing for me.
Same for me but with programming. When I was a preteen writing software and creating web pages was the ultimate form of creativity. It was like playing with Legos combined with an interactive mystery story mixed with having a paintbrush and a canvas.
When I got a job as a software engineer I hated the work. I was given a task and told to go do it, over and over again. My coworkers were conceited as all getup, considering themselves the best in the world and everyone else in the world as inferior. This lead to a horrible culture.
But I discovered R&D jobs where a company would dream of a new tech no one in the world had done yet or would think is possible. They would ask me to demonstrate viability and develop a proof of concept. Like the mystery in my childhood I would fall in love figuring out and solving these difficult problems. Today this is called Data Science, and I am grateful to do what I love, despite the difficult road getting there.
Yes! I lived most of my life with this dream of getting paid for doing what I love most, which is making things with my hands (jewelry, hand-dyed yarn, etc.). When I had the chance to do that for a living, I started hating making things pretty quickly, and made them frantically, in a haze of anger and resentment. I now think of my regular job as a way to preserve that enjoyment.
Loved you then; still love you now! 😊👏🏻 It's been rewarding just to watch your journey over the years and to grow with you (in theory). You and the vlogbros are the only youtubers I have consistently followed for, like, 10 years. So...yeah. Thanks, man.
This is such a fresh new perspective for me. I never thought about it that way. Genuinely grateful for the insight!...and the jokes. You always make me laugh and give me food for thought.
Thanks for this video.
I've been burnt out a few times, although I didn't always recognise it as such. Now I know the signs and can take steps to work on it, but I didn't always.
I work in healthcare as a resident care aide in an assisted living facility, which is a bit different here in Canada than down in the States. I worked in home support before I started my current job six years ago, and the first time I knew that I had burnout was in that job. It was pointed out to me by the case manager for two of my clients at the time. She removed me from doing care for one of the clients since it was due to that person and one of their family members that I had burnout.
Just that removal worked wonders and I had a lot less stress as my other clients didn't cause me nearly the same level of stress or anxiety that that one client, etc., did. I got along with them as people, but there were aspects of doing that person's care in his parents' home that were unreasonable.
Anyway, I've learned to recognise the signs of burnout and know what works for me to relieve it. Normally it's just a lot milder and is usually due to me becoming overly worried about stuff when I don't need to be.
I had another bad bout of burnout earlier this year, and it was worse than that other one.
So many things happened at once to me. I received an eviction notice - not due to anything I'd done, but because the place where I was living was being sold, although later on when I tried to contest it, false claims were made in order to try to keep me from fighting the eviction notice, and I just gave in and gave up because by that time, I was much too exhausted and had absolutely no fight left in me for anything.
I also had some financial problems, which I'm still dealing with.
Then my mother, who'd been steadily declining, although it wasn't obvious until Christmas and New Years, died at the end of January. That alone would've been enough to push me over the edge, but it was made worse because of those other two things, as well as, yes, there're three more things, there were troubles at work that affected everyone, especially in my particular location, and I got COVID-19, which led to an infection in a benign cyst that I'd found a couple of decades earlier, but it was left in my right breast because it wasn't causing me any problems.
I know that COVID-19 can't be said to be the official cause of the infection - the doctors certainly wouldn't say it - but the timing is there, and I had absolutely no signs of infection there until a few days after I got COVID-19. The infection was so bad that I would've lost that breast or even died if I hadn't gone to the ER to get it treated.
Anyway, I'm all better now & there's just a scar there. I'm living in a much better place for my cat and me, and so the eviction turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Work stuff is still there, but to a lot lesser degree. My finances still aren't great, but they're slowly improving.
I'll never really get over losing my mom, and I'll always think about her every day, but the ache's very slowly easing up.
The biggest thing that helped with this is something that I wish everyone could do. I booked my first vacation of this year for the last two weeks of April. My boss was trying to fight me on this, but I said over and over that I really needed this with the year I was having. My coworkers fought for me, and everyone banded together to made sure I got those two weeks. My boss couldn't really fight it and did find people to replace me - that was her biggest concern.
Those two weeks were so healing for me.
Burnout is not a fun thing and can do a lot of harm, but if a person can find ways to deal with it and to cope and the like, however they can do that, then it's possible to get past it. It's not easy, and sometimes burnout takes a long time to get over, but it can be done, even though it's a struggle. Find even one person to talk to and get the support needed. That was the biggest help for me - the support of family and friends. Yes, and my cat.
Hey Wheeze, thanks for making this video. I'm always happy when people share these sorts of struggles, especially when they have jobs that others might consider 'perfect'. Even in a perfect job, you can get burned out.
There was something I wanted to mention though and this isn't a critique on you or your video, but rather our understanding of burnout and lack of terminology. Burnout is an umbrella term that is often used for anything from 'I'm stressed' or 'I'm not enjoying this thing I'm doing anymore' to a serious mental and physical breakdown. I find the lack of specificity in this term (specifically in English) problematic because it leads to a situation in which people who need serious help aren't taking seriously because 'all you have to do is find your motivation and you'll be fixed'. When in fact burnout can have far more serious consequences than 'just' that (not to say that that isn't already bad enough! It absolutely is serious to get into that place where you feel resentful of a thing that you used to love and don't know -yet- why or how to fix it).
Feeling a disconnect with one or more parts of your life is, one of the first steps leading towards what is more of a medical burnout. When people don't catch that early enough (like you did manage to do!) and keep going, maybe even doubling down to 'fix it', stress levels rise or remain high constantly and the body starts to adapt. Eventually possibly leading to a complete mental & physical collapse. By that I mean, not just being tired or depressed, but being so fatigued, for so many months, that you can't remember how to make a sandwich. I mean that literally, I mean literally not knowing how anymore. Besides the cognitive difficulties like diminished capacity, (imagine no longer understanding how to edit video, kind of knowing but being unable to get there, even though it's so natural to you) concentration and memory (I forgot whole months at a time). It also leads to all kinds of physical problems, sleep is a big one but also headaches, stomach aches, infections, ulcers, muscle pain, you name it. Stress can even make you go blind! It's a serious thing. People who get to this stage usually need months or years to recover and are often never the same again. They'll often struggle with stimuli their whole life, as if the brain suffered a major injury and never fully recovered.
I feel like we need names for these things. Because calling all of these things 'burnout' does a disadvantage to those in a serious state who need help in order to ever get better, but often aren't taken seriously. I'm very glad that you caught yours at a time when it was helpful for you and that you've been able to take these steps. I hope that more people, after seeing your video, will be able to do so too. That way they never have to end up at that other stage :)
So glad to have found you. I use CC to help in my teaching and I always enjoyed your videos, especially the humor and energy you brought to those concepts. I am experiencing burning out teaching from home during COVID019 and this video helped me realize some of my issues. Keep up the good work and thanks for making and posting this video.
This entire video was fantastic, but the last 90 seconds were packed with numerous jokes that had me all smiles and uproarious chuckles, I wasn't prepared for such delight. Thank you for the quality content, Craig!
Since I'm in my last three semesters of college, this video is super encouraging! Thanks, Wheezy! :)
This actually spoke to me on a personal level.. and just when I needed it. Thank you. You’re awesome!
Hello Mr.Waiter dude. I just rediscovered your channel again and resubscribed but I wanna say BIGTHANKS because I was redpilled by reddit as a teenager and a big thing that made me do a 180 was your channel. You taught me how to USE. MY. NOODLE. and from there it was just a domino effect of learning, reading, listening, pondering. I'm almost 30 now and appreciate all the work that made me....Me!
Can I just say that you regularly make me laugh until I cry. Today it was: "unlimited bandwidth...I don't know about bandheight...probably." I just lost it. Thank you for doing what you do.
I really needed to hear this, especially the part about finding out what your *true* motivation is. I've been struggling to maintain momentum when it comes to creating content for my channel and this really helped me re-evaluate what's important. Thanks!
I'm glad you still make videos.
I'm glad I've kept a planner for the last few years because it'll help me answer some of these questions. I`ve randomly been motivated enough to do a project consistently and then it's dropped to the point where I avoided continuing so I think if I go back and check I'll be able to find a pattern and learn what motivates me and what I see as a reward. Thank you for this, it was REALLY needed. Even took notes Lol
I burned out last year after my mom passed away. It made me question everything (the foolishness of the work I was doing and for who, the foolishness of social media like Facebook, the foolishness of our country, etc.). It was basically a midlife crisis fire-sale. But eventually I let the embers smolder out and am now working on re-invention/renewal. Such is life. Glad to know that someone else has walked thru that fire. Thanks for the video & keep the magic coming.
Good video. Not only is it entertaining, but you are great at talking us through your whole thought process in a way that is easy to follow and relatable. I guess that counts as a meaningful video.
I feel like your channel has aged perfectly with me going from freshman in college to nearing my 30s
I love the distinction that the reward needs to be worth the work, and how the reward isn't just money. When Kati said "connectivity" it really hit home for me.
So you went from being an entertainer to being a philosopher. *_Noice._*
Hi, I don't post on your videos, except for this one, but I do watch them all! I just wanted to stop in and quickly say thank you. The way you insert comedy with education, makes the learning part fun. I enjoy your funny.
Thanks Craig
I loved the “Transitional snacking”!!! Glad you figured out the burnout! I’ll keep coming back for more of whatever you’re doing.
I really needed this right now. I've already had one, I feel it coming on again soon. I study at school and go to work.
It’s harder to bounce back when you’re just tired of everyone’s behavior at the same time. I’m exhausted both mentally and physically.
lately ive been feeling quite overwhelmed with studying but this video was quite comforting, thank you for your content
I realize there are a lot of sources for burnout, but I love you you presented it with humor! I often tune out lectures, even when my life/career depends on the content, but yours was fun and informative and I feel like I... actually paid attention the whole time? Really appreciate this one. 😄
This was a very enlightening video, I enjoy all your content ,but learning stuff with you and your family is my favorite.
I think I've been through some sort of social burnout. Having come from being antisocial and having 0 friends it was almost as though I felt the need to prove to myself that I *could* be friends with anyone. This led me to spending wayy too much time and energy on trying to connect with people that just weren't interested in connecting with me. Seeing this video helped me realise that burnout can be so much more than the stereotypical "rolling around on the floor hyperventilating because your body can't handle the stress" and might be harder to recognise.
I remember being subscribed when you have 30K followers and your content was hilarious and underrated. Then I could tell when you started to burn out. I am so happy you've found your way again! 993K subscribers now?! amazing!!!!!!
Thank you for helping me be more aware of self-evaluation. It’s not something I often consider and I think I should do more of
After years of wanting to write, and express the ideas in my head, I finally, FINALLY had the chance to do it, because I thought I has good, clever ideas and I wanted to prove that to myself, and get past the horrible and toxic abuse which convinced me all through my childhood that I was worthless, stupid, and boring.
So I started writing. A LOT. And I got encouragement from a MUCH more popular writer who I respected, who called ME a genius with some things and he was very encouraging. And he convinced me to join a few writing communities to share my ideas. And I thought things were good and they were very supportive.
But the communities did not stay supportive…one was a forum where many of my most detailed ideas would be almost completely ignored, at least in comparison to others of a similar vein. The other was a Discord server which was based on fans of that more popular author who was supporting me. I didn’t wave my flag over him liking my works because I didn’t want to ride his coattails.
But he had co-authors. And the co-authors had “friends” who had no problem using that influence to take moderator positions on the server, even though they were toxic, completely self-absorbed A-Holes. And eventually I started being freezed out, insulted and generally degraded until it was very clear that one particular mod hated my guts and wanted me gone, and he was chomping at the bit, *waiting* for the chance that I might do something that he could ban me for instead of having to settle for saying “That’s fucking stupid” whenever I tossed out a random idea for a story, OR just a question, or something I thought could spark an interesting debate. (Fuck you, Spoken. Die in a fire.)
But the thing is, that author I was friends with couldn’t pull rank, which was fair. What *isn’t* fair was that while complimenting me, he started asking me to write stuff about things that interested himself, and not me…and then asking me to write stories which were basically spin-offs to *his* work.
I said I didn’t want to ride his coattails. That *also* meant I did not want to just become his goddamn hypeman for *his* stuff. I did it once. For fun, because it was a favor for a friend. And then he started offering his own opinion on my stories, and throwing stuff in which went completely against the tone of my own plots and work, like he didn’t even care enough to adapt whatever he thought of in order to fit the world I was building. As an example of “Not fitting”, imagine for a moment that while Tolkien was researching and fleshing out Lord of the Rings, imagine if someone asked him, “Why not throw in guns, and the effects they had on war, like WWI Trench warfare?”
That kind of blind disconnect is what was happening.
And the guy started pestering me about it. Every. Day. For. Months. “Feel like writing yet?” “Any ideas so far?”
It didn’t come off as supportive. It came off as manipulative, like I was being used. And as someone who had been dealing with a toxic upbringing *and* a toxic living situation with huge self-esteem problems, being USED for self-gratification and ego-stroking rubbed my nerves raw.
Couple that with the fact that two communities where I was exposing my ideas and inner-thoughts started outright ignoring me or being passive-aggressively hostile towards me. (As opposed to completely anonymous commentary on my stories which had been overwhelmingly positive) and you can understand how I would shut down my urge to write, when it was becoming my release valve, my way to channel the beautiful ideas that I’d wanted to share for over 15 years before I even *knew* any of these people.
Now when I write it’s *only* been for ME. I haven’t shared it anywhere, and the stuff ends up being very quick, rough and short ideas anyway, because being ignored OR having that one pestering jackass go “Hey, you’re writing again! You wanna COMPLETELY CHANGE TRACKS to write about this random-ass thing that *I* know about and you’ve never heard of, *solely* because I want you to write about it instead of just doing it myself?!”
I want to write my own shit again, and not have it feel like a chore, and not have it go through a complete tonal shift just because I’m not the same person I was when I started the damn things. I was more…hopeful then, and I *felt* at the time that I was happier than I am now. Thought thankfully I know that’s a damn lie, because on January 21st 2020, I moved out of the utterly horrific co-dependent situation I’d been manipulated into, and if I hadn’t done that, I would’ve become an alcoholic or committed suicide, 100% fact.
Basically, on top of all the other crap, writing was also my subconscious way to ease stress. And now that I’m on my own and my life is WAY less stressful, my subconscious won’t pump out the inspiration juices since I’m *content* now…and burned out.
I hope that can change. I really, *really* do.
Exactly!!!! Spot on! I have been trying to do art for a few years while being depressed and anxious and going down a very deep dark hole and seeing no way out. Decided to start participating in life rather and get some structure.(besides no one cares and somehow everyone needs to carry on) What about doing a random job in a community and go from there... Then inspiration for music or art (or whatever) comes by itself and it's not forced and you do not have to do it every day. I don't even know how to explain, but you did it perfectly. :D
Great video, Craig! This was encouraging for me. I write fiction and fanfiction as a hobby and share it online. I have a pretty supportive readership and I used to post chapters nearly every week for several months last year, but I haven't been able to write much recently. I still love my stories and want to finish them, but I feel a little burnt out. I think following your advice may help me fall in love with my hobby again!
How is it going? I am in the same situation.
Love this one. Such an important topic. Thank you both!!
Good on you mate. Always loved your stuff eventhough I haven't watched any of it in like a year. Guess I've been distracted by other things. Which happens.
Thabkyou again for another interesting and amusing video.
I'm totally feeling that with my artwork. Hugs all round. So happy for you that you turned that huge corner and came out the other side.... right. I'm off to find that fun about my art again... sweet potato? In New Zealand we call it Kumara (Māori).
Aw man. I really needed this video. Thank you so much for making it and also for making me laugh out loud several times, especially at the banana bit.
Wheezy, this strange, odd, unbelievably brilliant video has changed my life. I'm just a guy in Florida, burned out, but you have sparked ideas for me to help with my career. (Not a youtuber, just a regular guy.) Thank you so much for making this.
It's is very important to also not have just one thing you love doing but multiple to spread the load in a sense
-gardening
-gaming
-machining
-cycling
My 4 favourite pastimes (machining is my actual job)
Gardening on its own is already rewarding either a pretty flower or a yummy veggie that you wouldn't be able to buy at stores , machining is just satisfying to hear the machine under load and watching those metal chips fly, games are for when the garden is inaccessible (night/rain) and the bike is just a great exercise machine and an excuse to get in my car and drive 2 hours to be out in nature
I’m really enjoying discovering interesting youtubers through your recent videos!
Great video. Enjoy them all! This one was universally relevant for an overreaching, stressed out society.
This was exceedingly helpful and you were a perfect vessel to deliver this lesson.
It took me 3 minutes to realize he was Skyping her and not just commenting on her video 😂
I love what you learned and the direction of your channel! I just discovered you, and I honestly would never have subscribed before, just for funny, goofiness. I love the curiosity, intelligence (and humor, yes, goofiness in the midst of purpose is fun) in your more recent work.
th-cam.com/video/mJOvFPmnCVI/w-d-xo.html
This is the story of my life currently. Finding meaning, living intentionally and working smarter.
❤️❤️❤️ thank you for your honesty! I look forward to your future videos!
As someone who has experienced burnout, this video was a charming way of helping me confront my own past failures and look forward to attaining reasonable goals
What I love about your videos: I learn genuinely helpful stuff. I laugh soooo much. The inspiring editing style (i’m a professional motion designer). Keep doing you and we‘ll be watching 😊😊 great stuff.
Amazing perspective. Just what I needed to hear right now. Thank you!
It's like new year resolutions, ppl go overboard with it, get burnt out and quit.
If you want to form a new habit - maybe life-long - then you need to avoid negative feelings associated with it, let it take time, and don't do it if you don't feel like it. I got gym membership 3-4 months ago, with the intention of going 3 times/week, I'm not really even consistently doing 2 yet, but that's fine, i actually feel psyched up when i do. Actually i stopped myself getting to excited about it, cause i felt i'd risk getting burnt out if i kept that pace.
Basically i think that if you don't like your situation, you need to become a different person; it's the person you are, that put you there in the first place. You can't just start a new routine, if it doesn't fit who you are, and expect your life to change. You need to reevaluate your perception and understanding of things, and new habits and routines will follow.
Art college was the moment i found myself and had to deal with my traumas.
I didn't realise how tired of life i was and the college itself was EXTREMELY tough. 9AM-9PM. Was at home around 12PM and THEN had to catch up coding exams. It took me 5 times before i would finish python exam. Because it was a constant struggle of not passing A so focus on B, then do C and focus on finishing A but finding out you've failed B. I spent 2 years prepping myself for the AAA industry and was ready but then my schoolbag with my equipement got stolen. and no savings build because of no time nor energy for work put me in a burnout. After half a year i went back to college, realizing my art levels were below indie games, tempo(by god my tempo) was decreased with 300% and my working hours decreased to only 2-3 hours a day. Now with 60k in debt only one project left to finish college, there's no way to make fat bucks and find joy in the AAA again. So i am close to my 2nd burnout age 24. My brain is just damaged beyond repair and so i am building a franchise about things that i love. Which is hentai. It keeps me going, i get appreciation and hype from friends. And honetly, its the best thing that happened to me since all the shit.
Hi Craig. I've been worried about you for a couple years now. I hope this video (topic) helps lift you out of this funk you've been in for a while now. Please know that your are loved and respected by thousands of people out here. I've been watching you since early days (early Chicago, just completely silly videos). You seem like a very good person, and I always look forward to your videos. You bring joy into the world. Thank you.
This video!! As a creative, I always feel guilty when I don't feel like making art. I've always had an all or nothing mindset. Also, I seriously love all of your videos, so freakin funny and educational at the same time. Thank you for doing what you do.
I really needed to see this. Thank you for creating this video.
I feel like a complete stranger at the business I OWN. Literally had thoughts about rejoining the workforce of 9-5 or a different focus, knowing later I would regret it.
Why is that? Do you know your employees?
@@bonniebelle4130 I know them Very well. As my business grew I needed more mechanics. I tracked down ex-coworkers that worked with me at a shop with a really toxic and stressful Owner for years. I started there as a helper and worked my way up to manager.
Wonderful video. Shared it with everyone!
@struthless coined it like this: "Your hobbies don't need to be your jobbies.", basically, it's ok to not turn the stuff you love doing into a job, it might ruin the stuff you love doing for you.
I'm 34 and I still have no hope or dreams. I always thought it would come along, but here I am still playing video games and working at dead and jobs that just get me by. I feel like my life is wasting away.
Love your old videos, I loved your vlogs, and I love your new videos. I'm just glad you've been able to change and do what you love too!
I'm a video production specialist in the U.S. military. I'm burnt out, I have 2 years left in my 7 year contract. I was able to relieve that for about a year by learing social media and broadcast analytics and making that my job. Leadership changed and I went back to video production agian. Now that I know how to interpret analytics, my job has even less meaning and I'm burnt out way more. Nothing I'm doing has any impact and my other talents are going to waste. I feel guilty becuase other members in the military have it way worse. I'm still searching for meaning... i might not find it in the next 2 years and if I don't I can move on. This video helped me reaffirm that without a purpose you cannot overcome burnout.
I CANT WAIT TO WATCH YOUR UPCOMING VIDS!!!!
I’m always liking your videos before watching them 💜
i just found you - and this is amazing. please keep making videos. - i really appreciate it!
Much love dude this video really helped me out
It’s so funny that this video came out because I’m feeling this right now. I left uni, tried to get a job, failed for a long time but thought it was maybe me telling myself that that sort of work wasn’t going to make me feel fulfilled. Maybe the reason I was failing was because I didn’t put full passion into interviews or job searching in that field, whatever.
I tried to start my own business. I started 2 blogs and then a TH-cam channel. Not going to lie, things haven’t worked out. Being my own boss has made me lonely. I’m not being rewarded, in meaning or money, equal to the effort I’ve put in.
I’m now thinking, maybe I need to give myself a break, forget working for myself for now. Go and work for someone else, let them tell me what to do, for the first time in 2 years.
Give myself some meaning, earn so I can do what I like. Make life just that little bit easier, in one sense.
I’m feeling down about the whole thing and this video was more than required tonight.
Don't ever stop doing stupid stuff! Less is ok but never stop!