Thanks :)

Which text are you referring to? Sounds interesting!

There’s a difference between signalling the brain to release its own dopamine and taking external dopamine. (Important note: All of this is a simplification, I am not an expert!)

The first could be done with drugs (legal and illegal) or other dopamine-stimulating activities with instant rewards, and it absolutely has the ability to change our reasoning (like “Oh yeah, I’ll definitely feel better if I sit motionlessly for hours scrolling memes I don’t even find that funny, and should not, as logic and knowledge dictates, maybe go outside and move my body a little, because that won’t feel as good (doesn’t release as much dopamine)”). So here, the answer is yes, totally. Which is why for example ADHD medication tries to effect an easier release of dopamine to make it easier on the brain-carrier to make different choices, away from instant reward towards delayed gratification.

For the second thing - dopamine’s precursor, L-Dopa, is the straightest way to actually add more dopamine to the brain (since dopamine itself can not pass the blood-brain-barrier, but L-dopa can and is then synthesized into dopamine), which is done in Parkinson’s patients and helps them tremendously. Interestingly however, if you overdose it, you can fall into a drug-induced psychosis, a state in which one could argue that logic and reasoning are indeed affected, so that’s another yes, but not in the way you mean, I think.

In conclusion, brain neurotransmitter chemistry is pretty complicated, but interesting, and the answer to the question if changing something about it will lead to different ways of thinking is very often yes, which is why medicine is doing it :)

I’ve been using ChatGPT to find inspiration for greeting cards (for birthday, wedding etc.) for people I don’t know that well.

I don’t want to scare you, but seriously, do NOT just try to push through the burnout by yourself “until life lets up” and leave it at that - I tried that, and all that happened was a break-down, and afterwards not being able to work, period, for several months. My life back then was not sustainable for my body, and it told me through burnout as a last measure to get me to stop living like that.

In recovery, I’ve also met people who went farther than me (often medication-assisted) and did themselves literal organ damage - one lady had a nearly complete shut-down of the adrenal glands, another had a series of mini-strokes due to elevated blood pressure… it gets bad.

You say there are only two weeks to go, and I wish you the best to get there in one piece. Do try exercising, avoiding screens for two hours before bed, listen to an audiobook to fall asleep, try lavender tea or something, use all the tips.

But please know that afterwards it will not necessarily be over, the exhaustion may stay or come back easily, and you really, really need to reach out to a professional, your GP or psychiatrist and look into treatment options, not just coping options.

Wish you all the best!

I was in a very similar position during 2022. It’s a perfect burnout recipe, chronic stressors everywhere and no power to change them. I could feel it building, but was still able to work and the personal stakes were high, so I wanted to make it to the end (which would have been in early 2023). I didn’t. I had a break-down in fall, I couldn’t do anything anymore (no focus, no energy, really bad memory, lots of mistakes at work). I took sick leave and have been in recovery since, and still don’t feel really alright. I have met people who went further than me and have done themselves really bad, and even physical damage doing so - psyche and body feel different, but they are parts of the same organism, and to overtax one is to overtax the other.

In no way was it worth it. I would have chosen differently if I had known what the later stages of burnout felt like.

I really mean it - if it’s in any way feasible and you’ve exhausted other pathways to change inside your role, quit before your body does it for you.

When you feel the burnout building up, you really should not try to stick it out “just until this project is done and I can get some rest”…

I think it’s not half as interesting as you think it might be…

I had a huge trash bag in my home office from a long ago deep clean of my flat, filled with all kinds of stuff. It was there so long it was basically furniture.

The sticking point was that because of local laws, I had to sort out the recyclable trash and dump it in the special dumpsters before getting rid of the rest. (Also, I knew that before gathering the trash all together like this, but it seemed easier at the time…)

Last week, due to external pressures, I finally managed to lug the bag to the dumpsters and do it. It only took 15 minutes, but it sucked exactly as much as I thought it would - just putting my arms in there searching for paper and recyclable plastics, not even knowing what was in there anymore… thankfully it didn’t smell, but when I accidentally grabbed a very old, unsuffiently packaged positive covid home testing kit, I called it a day, dumped the rest (neighbours be damned) and went home to scrub my hands clean…

0/10, would procrastinate again. :D

This happens to me with surprising regularity… HOWEVER - I recently managed to do a chore after 9 months of procrastination, and while it did only take 15 minutes, those minutes sucked so bad that, for a change, I felt really justified in putting it off as long as I did. So it can go either way, I guess!