In 1999, when I was 19 years old, I started working at a "web buraeu", as we called them in my country back then. I did html, asp, php, graphics, design. All that. A jack of all trades, sort of, as I've always been talented with pretty much anything technical, and as it was a small company that needed its employees to "pitch in" where they could. I worked with this company for 1.5 years, until march 2001, when me and two others had to leave because of shortage of work. At this point I had developed a sociophobia and various, severe stress disorders, among them panic attacks. I took a position with another "web bureau" 2 months later to try maintain an income. 9 months later, in march 2002, just having had my 22nd birthday, I was broken down to the point that I often needed help with grocery shopping and most other daily errands related to the outside of my home. In late 2003, the side-effects hit their climax; on average I left my apartment 3-4 times per month - just to take the trash out. Today, march 2010, I have still not fully recovered my ability to work in the capacity normally implied by a "9 to 5". My normal hours in the two jobs that broke me down ranged between 10 to 14 hours per day, and I worked most saturdays and sundays as well.
I'm really sorry to hear this. No one deserves to have burnt out at 22. I hope you are able to exercise your body and relax your mind and get back to good health. Please try jogging / other exercise. They say it works really well in terms of building up an energy reserve. I need to do it, too!
I got burned out at 18. Took me three years to recover. I think it's a good experience to have early..it makes you realize what is _really_ important to you.
I had somewhat the same experience, I punched through the .COM boom,and i was well paid, but i didn't have much of a life, basically working my ass off for almost a decade.
At some point I decided I could not do this anymore, and quit my job, following that I have spent then about a year playing music and basically doing nothing. it took me a year to recharge my batteries, and it wasn't easy, I had to struggle with depression. But all in all, I learned allot, I pace myself much better now, and spend much more time on things I value, mainly my friends and loved ones.
sometimes you need a break to gain perspective, and rediscover the things you love to do.
Wow, this is like a club. I got burned out at 26 after three years straight with no time off and traveling all over for work (I was platinum with Delta at the time). I took a year off and started doing all the things I had alway wished I had the time for. When I came back to work the next year, I was much less intense and was able to manage a better balance between work and everything else.
However, I was also much less interested in "computers" than I had been all my life. For a few years, I left work at the office and found other hobbies to take up my spare time. That interest has since come back in a very strong way, but I think the mental break I took over that time has helped me out by making me a more well-rounded person.
I'm planning to take another sabbatical towards the end of the year. This time, it's being planned and will not be an emergency.
