What has been the biggest benefit to your well-being since getting into EA? What would you advice to the many EA’s who struggle with being happy/not burning out? (our community seems to have a higher than average rate of mental illness)
Honestly, the biggest benefit to my wellbeing was taking action about depression, including seeing a doctor, going on antidepressants, and generally treating it like a problem that needed to be solved. I really think I might not have done that, or might have done it much later, were it not for EA—EA made me think about things in an outcome-oriented way, and gave me an extra reason to ensure I was healthy and able to work well.
For others: I think that Scott Alexander’s posts on anxiety and depression are really excellent and hard to beat in terms of advice. Other things I’d add: I’d generally recommend that your top goal should be ensuring that you’re in a healthy state before worrying too much about how to go about helping others; if you’re seriously unhappy or burnt our, fixing that first is almost certainly the best altruistic thing you can do. I also recommend maintaining and cultivating a non-EA life: having a multi-faceted identity means that if one aspect of your life isn’t going so well, then you can take solace in other aspects.
What has been the biggest benefit to your well-being since getting into EA? What would you advice to the many EA’s who struggle with being happy/not burning out? (our community seems to have a higher than average rate of mental illness)
Honestly, the biggest benefit to my wellbeing was taking action about depression, including seeing a doctor, going on antidepressants, and generally treating it like a problem that needed to be solved. I really think I might not have done that, or might have done it much later, were it not for EA—EA made me think about things in an outcome-oriented way, and gave me an extra reason to ensure I was healthy and able to work well.
For others: I think that Scott Alexander’s posts on anxiety and depression are really excellent and hard to beat in terms of advice. Other things I’d add: I’d generally recommend that your top goal should be ensuring that you’re in a healthy state before worrying too much about how to go about helping others; if you’re seriously unhappy or burnt our, fixing that first is almost certainly the best altruistic thing you can do. I also recommend maintaining and cultivating a non-EA life: having a multi-faceted identity means that if one aspect of your life isn’t going so well, then you can take solace in other aspects.