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mickotron

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I am in my 34th year and I listen to more new music now than I ever have. Most live music shows I go to now are for newer bands that I’ve only just started listening to. YouTube and DeeZer give me excellent suggestions for music.

Wake up (time varies). Have breakfast, coffee, work until done. Of course I have lunch in between (at home). Sometimes I run errands during the day.

If I’m feeling up to it I’ll play golf before or after work. Sometimes I will do a workout (home gym).

Overall I love the flexibility and ability to get more done professionally and personally in the same or less time.

I was a PayPal customer for 16 years. They then threatened to disable my account unless I completed forms to send to Equifax. I told them to get stuffed and see you later. I really miss PayPal but I didn’t appreciate what they did.

I suffered serious burnout a few years back. I took long service leave, any kind of leave, to get away from the stressful and toxic environment. I used that time away to apply for a different job. I told my managers that I would not come back if I could help it. Luckily I didn't have to go back to that workplace.

Burnout also manifested itself in health problems with no explanation. I suffered epileptic-like episodes on a plane a week into my leave from work. I spent a year getting tests, unable to drive until cleared by a doctor, which were all inconclusive. The timing of this, and the fact I've not experienced this before or since, makes me think stress was the cause.

It took months of doing practically nothing at home, and a year or so in a new job, to understand a few things.

  - There are external and internal stress factors that can influence burnout. You might have external workplace factors you can't influence, or you might also have unrealistic expectations, be a perfectionist, have an intense work ethic, or unbalanced work-life balance.
  - After burnout, you can recognise these stress factors, and how to mitigate or avoid them. Some you can control, some you can't. If you need to leave somewhere, then leave. Before I suffered burnout, I saw a therapist and they said that leaving was the best option. They were totally right.
  - Once you recognise stress factors that you can control, you take steps to mitigate or avoid them. You change your attitude towards work. You time box between work and life activities (if your work allows). You make meaningful boundaries, which can be physical, time-based, or mental.
  - It's ok to feel defective for a time. For a year or two after my burnout, I felt like I was "damaged goods". Certain situations were triggering, I would not apply myself to work in the same way as before. I wondered whether I would "find my mojo" again. This is temporary, but it's a crucial time for reflection and learning.
I am actually grateful I was able to have this experience relatively early (first decade) of my professional career. It taught me lessons that I will use for the remainder of my career. I feel like some people learn the easy way, and some people learn the hard way. I am the latter, and this was my hard way of learning boundaries and self respect.

Ukraine has not taken credit for the bridge attack. We still don’t fully know who did it. It could have been Russia for all we know. They have shown a much greater willingness to indiscriminately kill civilians throughout this conflict, which they started .

Tell me of a single major conflict that didn’t involve civilian casualties. I will wait. It is terrible, but unavoidable, especially given the circumstances that Russia has created in Ukraine, unprovoked.

There are major differences between the participants with regards to intent. Intent of their actions. Russian soldiers have raped, tortured and executed civilians. There have been mass graves found in the liberated territories.

I don’t see how you can equate these with the destruction of a bridge that is vitally important to Russia’s control and supply of Crimea and southern Ukraine. The intent would be to deprive Russia of re-supply and access. The intention of mass killings, torture and rape, is to kill and torture people. There is no legitimate strategic objective for these actions.

If their aim was killing civilians, they would have chosen a busy time. They chose the least busiest time. Also, to clear the bridge of all traffic to then attack, would reveal your intentions to the enemy. There was no way the bridge was being destroyed without casualties. Civilian deaths are always bad, however if this act shortens the length of the war, that will save countless more lives than the ones lost on that bridge.

Meanwhile, Russia retaliates by hitting residential buildings with rockets. I am eager to hear what you think of that.

Either way, the comment I replied to tried represent a whole of humanity stance on something, since the dawn of civilisation, that is clearly false.

We can both come up with examples to suit our viewpoint. I didn’t say that person was wrong. I just said that person was being selective.