Iāve also changed the style/āpace of my engagement somewhat, in a way that feels a little hard to describe.
Itās sort-of like, when I first encountered EA, I was approaching it as a sprint: there were all these amazing things to learn, all these important career paths to pursue, and all these massive problems to solve, and I had to go fast. I actually found this exciting rather than stressful, but it meant I wasnāt spending enough time with my (non-EA) partner, was too constantly talking about EA things with her, etc. (I think this is more about my personality than about EA specifically, given that a similar thing occurred when I first started teaching in 2018.)
Whereas now itās more like Iām approaching EA as a marathon. By that I mean Iām:
Spending a little less time on āwork and/āor EA stuffā and a little more time with my partner
My work is now itself EA stuff, so I actually increased my time spent on EA stuff compared to when I was a teacher. But I didnāt increase it as much as I wouldāve if still in āsprint modeā.
Making an effort to more often talk about non-EA things with my partner
Reducing how much I āsweat the small stuffā; being more willing to make some frivolous expenditures (which are actually small compared to what Iām donating and will donate in future) for things like nice days out, and to not think carefully each time about whether to do that
I think the factors that led me to switch to marathon mode are roughly that:
It seemed best for my partner and my relationship
Iāve come to see my relationship itself in a more marathon-y and mature way (or something like that; itās hard to describe), I think due to the fact that I got married this year
This seems to have made ideas about compromise and long time horizons more salient to me
(I mean this all in a good way, despite how āseeing my relationship as a marathonā might sound!)
My career transition worked! So now I feel a bit less like thereās a mad dash to get onto a high impact path, and a bit more like I just need to work well and sustainably
But this change was only moderate, for reasons including that I remain uncertain about which path I should really be on
Getting an EA research job means I can now scratch my itch for learning, discussing, and writing about interesting and important ideas during my work hours, and therefore donāt feel an unmet intellectual āneedā if I spend my free hours on other things
In contrast, when I was a teacher, I mostly had to get my fill of interesting and important ideas outside of work time, biting into the time I spent with my partner
Iāve also changed the style/āpace of my engagement somewhat, in a way that feels a little hard to describe.
Itās sort-of like, when I first encountered EA, I was approaching it as a sprint: there were all these amazing things to learn, all these important career paths to pursue, and all these massive problems to solve, and I had to go fast. I actually found this exciting rather than stressful, but it meant I wasnāt spending enough time with my (non-EA) partner, was too constantly talking about EA things with her, etc. (I think this is more about my personality than about EA specifically, given that a similar thing occurred when I first started teaching in 2018.)
Whereas now itās more like Iām approaching EA as a marathon. By that I mean Iām:
Spending a little less time on āwork and/āor EA stuffā and a little more time with my partner
My work is now itself EA stuff, so I actually increased my time spent on EA stuff compared to when I was a teacher. But I didnāt increase it as much as I wouldāve if still in āsprint modeā.
Making an effort to more often talk about non-EA things with my partner
Reducing how much I āsweat the small stuffā; being more willing to make some frivolous expenditures (which are actually small compared to what Iām donating and will donate in future) for things like nice days out, and to not think carefully each time about whether to do that
This post feels relevant here
I think the factors that led me to switch to marathon mode are roughly that:
It seemed best for my partner and my relationship
Iāve come to see my relationship itself in a more marathon-y and mature way (or something like that; itās hard to describe), I think due to the fact that I got married this year
This seems to have made ideas about compromise and long time horizons more salient to me
(I mean this all in a good way, despite how āseeing my relationship as a marathonā might sound!)
My career transition worked! So now I feel a bit less like thereās a mad dash to get onto a high impact path, and a bit more like I just need to work well and sustainably
But this change was only moderate, for reasons including that I remain uncertain about which path I should really be on
Getting an EA research job means I can now scratch my itch for learning, discussing, and writing about interesting and important ideas during my work hours, and therefore donāt feel an unmet intellectual āneedā if I spend my free hours on other things
In contrast, when I was a teacher, I mostly had to get my fill of interesting and important ideas outside of work time, biting into the time I spent with my partner