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Discussion on: Building Habits To Be Healthier Developers

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dianale profile image
Diana Le

I agree, it's good to take breaks and do other things you enjoy. Two years ago when I started focusing on learning web development in my spare time, I wanted to learn as much as possible as fast as I could. So I devoted all my free time to learning. I stopped doing a lot of hobbies because I felt those weren't productive to my career, which was a high priority. This made me feel burnt out eventually, and then I felt tired of learning and was unable to focus for weeks.

Within the past year I've learned to keep doing other hobbies and make sure I schedule a day in the week where I don't code at all and just take a break. This has helped me stay focused long-term. Within the past month I've joined Dev.to and started doing weekly Codepen challenges because I feel much more energized. Taking these breaks and enjoying other activities has made me enjoy web development a lot more and improved my mental health.

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adiatiayu profile image
Ayu Adiati

That's exactly what happened to me as well, Diana!

I got burnout from not taking proper break and wanting to accelerate my learning.
But learning is different as working. Learning is where we need to understand new concepts and information. So our brain works harder to retain as many new information than its capacity. And when we don't take proper breaks, it would just shut down.

Good to know that you manage to keep your hobby, have a day off break in a week and improved your mental health! 😄