The tech industry is a strange place.
It gives you a lot. Good money, interesting problems, freedom, opportunities. You can build a very comfortable life working in tech.
And maybe that’s part of the problem.
When life is going well, it’s very easy to start chasing more.
A better job. More money. More responsibility. A bigger company. A startup. More recognition.
There is always someone doing better, moving faster, or building something more impressive.
Nobody tells you that you’re competing. But somehow, you start competing anyway.
And the strange thing is that you can have a very good life while still feeling like you’re behind.
Getting away from it
One of the best vacations I’ve ever had was in the Amazon.
I had no signal.
For a few days, nobody could message me, nobody knew what I was doing, and I had no idea what anyone else was doing either.
I remember sitting on a swing next to the river, listening to thousands of birds.
That’s it.
I wasn’t thinking about work. I wasn’t checking anything. I wasn’t comparing myself to anyone.
I was just sitting there.
And it felt incredibly peaceful.
It made me realize how much noise we normally carry around with us without noticing it.
The anxiety spreads
I think the hardest part isn’t necessarily the work.
It’s the environment.
When everyone around you is ambitious, ambition becomes contagious.
When everyone is worried about AI, you worry about AI.
When everyone is changing jobs, you wonder if you should change jobs.
When everyone is trying to get ahead, slowing down starts to feel like falling behind.
Sometimes it happens in less obvious ways too. When leadership becomes anxious about what might happen during a period of uncertainty, that anxiety can quickly find its way down to everyone else.
Other people’s anxiety can become your own.
And sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is simply step outside of it for a while.
Perspective
Reading existential books has a similar effect on me.
After spending a day thinking about technology, money, careers and competition, reading about mortality, meaning and the absurdity of existence puts everything back into perspective.
It reminds me that all these things we spend so much time worrying about are only one small part of being alive.
A promotion is nice.
Money is useful.
Building things is rewarding.
But none of them are the whole story.
Sometimes I think we get so good at building a life that we forget to actually live it.
Maybe that’s why I like disappearing occasionally.
Not because I don’t like the world I live in.
But because stepping outside it for a moment helps me see it more clearly.