Reveries on the Rat Race Tragedy

In the time I've been speaking, over eighty million people have died of stress!
(waits a moment then snaps his fingers)
There's another one! -- Denholm Reynholm, IT Crowd

It may not yet happen now, but inevitably in the future, in your career you'll feel disillusioned, helpless, completely worn out, problems look unsolvable, the future looks dark, and you're disengaged enough not to care about practically anything to do with your career, even personal life and it could be fatal.

Welcome to career burnout. Tragically, you may not be aware that you're already suffering from it.

From my previous posts, you may have deduced that I'm quite old; truth be told, I'm past mid-thirties as of this writing. There probably is no career more rewarding, more risky, more demanding and more uncertain than being in information technology (IT) industry, and being old isn't an advantage over younger, more aggressive and usually more technologically up-to-date workforce of the IT industry; being older can be a liability, much like an old and obsolete hardware or software (nobody I know is being sought after like the NeXT Computer), and the push to keep the rat race going never slowed down.

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever young
-- Alphaville, Forever Young

Just pondering on the terms risky, demanding and uncertain is bound to stress out some of us; and it's double jeopardy that we're susceptible from reduction in vitality and strength of body and mind, but many guys in IT, maybe due to pride or whatever that blinds them at the time prods them to keep going, and thus, inevitably they will perish and suffer career burnout.

Provided in this IT industry-specific link are some of the factors continuously ignored, thus guaranteeing career burnout. There are however diagnosis and advise on what can be done about career burnout as noted here and here.

Opting out of the rat race need not mean you should be shameful you stepped out of the game. If there is belief in life after death, why can't we see beyond our current job post and move to an alternative career? As one of GoDaddy's Bob Parsons' 16 Rules for Success goes: We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time. Let's make the most of the life we have.

Beyond career is passion and if you just need a break, don't be afraid to assert your right to be free of stress. For my part, either way still being in IT or have moved on to another career path, I know I'll always be refreshed anew just going to or viewing this place I'll showcase through a slideshow. I hope you'll like it.

Kawa-Kawa Tour Slideshow: Tito’s trip to Kawa-Kawa, Ligao City (near Donsol), Luzon, Philippines was created by TripAdvisor. See another Donsol slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.