rileyharris
Posts 20
Comments52
I'm sorry to hear treatments generally haven't helped in the past.
I sometimes find it useful to think about these things in the following way. It feels like a lot to sacrifice energy to do therapy when you're already limited in terms of energy. But if it works particularly well, maybe you'll have something like an extra day of energy a week for... well for your whole life. It might be worth doing even if it takes a lot now, and even if the odds of success are low. (Of course, in some cases the odds are so low that it isn't worth it).
I don't know much about the specifics here, my own experience has been with anxiety, depression and adhd.
One piece of advice is this: try all of the things that might help with anxiety, depression, and ME/CFS. This was mentioned by @John Salter in another comment, but it doesn't just apply to starting organisations. It is a worthwhile investment to try a range of things that might work on almost any future career path you would pursue. (So long as you don't pay severe costs if they fail).
These lists are okay as a starting point for anxiety and depression.
There are other goals you could adopt.
To learn and develop your own thinking. If that's your goal, it doesn't matter as much whether you share it, or the reception it gets.
To share important ideas. If you're absorbing a lot of your content from the EA forum, try writing somewhere else. Other people may not have been exposed to these ideas, so you might be able to do more to improve the average quality.
My personal hot-take is that most people should write for a different audience than than themselves. My own ideas often feel stale and obvious to me, while what I consume is fresh and interesting. But occasionally others' have commented that they love my writing (and I don't hear from the one's that don't like it all that much).
I don't think my comment is likely to be all that useful, but putting it here anyway.
I personally find it difficult to pay attention to podcasts with more than 2 people. I tried to listen to the first episode for about 30 minutes and this one for about 5 minutes, and I couldn't comfortably follow them while paying attention to other tasks (walking around, cleaning, cooking etc.).
I think it's likely that more diversity in the space is good though, as many of the most popular podcasts I see on e.g. Youtube tend to be more than two people. I suspect this is more related to my own personal idiosyncratic preferences, and it might be good to attract new listeners that have different preferences. I can see another commenter was absolutely enthralled!
I also now really like the look of Dwarkesh's podcast, and plan to listen to it, and I wouldn't have known about it otherwise!
More EA success stories:
Pandemics. We have now had the first truly global pandemic in decades, perhaps ever.
Nuclear war. Thanks to recent events, the world is closer than ever to a nuclear catastrophe.
It's not all good news though. Unfortunately, poverty seems to be trending down, there's less lead in the paint, and some say AI could solve most problems despite the risks.
I just want to add that even if people treat you different, ultimately it's a line on your CV that says "completed this degree, in this year". I don't think it makes a material difference to your opportunities at the point of completion if it took you much longer to complete.