[ChrisMarshallNY]

Edges are cool. That's where the action is.

But sometimes, we shouldn't have action.

As I have gotten older, I have learned that "It Depends" is really a mantra for life.

I know of some folks that are dealing with mental health challenges. They are all dirt poor, on SSI/Medicaid, and terrified of losing these.

As a result, they don't try to get jobs, or advance themselves, socially. They don't take risks. Their therapists tend to encourage this stance.

I can't, with sincerity, say that they are all wrong, but I'll bet some of them are. If they pushed themselves, they could probably break free of their chains. But some of the others, would just break. I am not qualified to know which is which. I do my best to support them, and keep my opinions to myself. One thing I know for sure: I have no idea what other people can take, in their edges. Just because I can do something, doesn't mean that someone else can.

We advance, by pushing into our discomfort zone. There's a saying: "Winners do what they need to do. Losers do what they want to do."

I don't know how to do almost every project I take on. It can be terrifying. I write about that, here: https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/thats-not-what-ships...

[Suppafly]

> know of some folks that are dealing with mental health challenges. They are all dirt poor, on SSI/Medicaid, and terrified of losing these.

That's why we need UBI, SSI ends up being an indirect UBI anyway but at least with a real UBI system people wouldn't be afraid to try to work during the time periods they were feeling better.

[Nevermark]

The fact that people receiving medical or economic assistance often face irreversible cutoffs and net reductions in resources if they try helping themselves is so perverse.

I have seen people in this situation. Sometimes you don't even need to be poor, just in a bad situation where you need help and are getting it. But deeply incentivized (captured might be the right word) by artificial risk structures to avoid any attempts to get out.

[fifilura]

Edges are cool. But they do have a dark side, often forgotten when talked about in public.

I have once been on the edge of chaos for too long and eventually when it flipped over it took years to recover. Possibly even decades. Or possibly a lifetime.

[chankstein38]

Agreed. Crunch times at work, 10+ hour days for years left me burnt out even after being out of that for 5 years. Too much edge of your comfort zone can ruin your life!

[Jerrrrrrry]

For me, the work was so easy, easy things became impossible, and I, complacent.

  >Too much edge of your comfort zone can ruin your life!

too much comfort can lead to not being able to deal with trivial, and more trivial, tasks.

its the easy tasks, procrastinating into a wave, that accumulate exponentially the quickest.

[fifilura]

For me it was not crunch time but constantly challenging myself. Did I hope to see something on the other side?

[tiniestcabbage]

> I know of some folks that are dealing with mental health challenges. They are all dirt poor, on SSI/Medicaid, and terrified of losing these. > > As a result, they don't try to get jobs, or advance themselves, socially. They don't take risks. Their therapists tend to encourage this stance. > > I can't, with sincerity, say that they are all wrong, but I'll bet some of them are. If they pushed themselves, they could probably break free of their chains. But some of the others, would just break. I am not qualified to know which is which. I do my best to support them, and keep my opinions to myself.

I am one of those people. I tried. It was a bad idea.

I am neurodivergent with mental health issues and started working again in 2022 as a developer after having been on disability for about 15 years. A friend of mine has given me a referral to a place he worked, and I had a mid-level development position at a startup that involved a lot of teaching bootcamp grads how to do stuff - that part of my work especially was a great fit. Then the economy tightened up and I got laid off - and there was just no work to be found.

I had worked exactly 11 days past the trial work grace period (thanks, former employer), so I'm in a weird situation where I'm able to draw benefits for a couple of years but I'll have to reapply for disability in a few months. Had I worked 11 days less, I'd still have benefits like nothing had ever happened - and had I worked into December of that year I'd have nothing at all.

The part no one tells you about any of this is that you are going to be reliant on referrals for work for the rest of your life because the gap in your work history makes you absolutely toxic to any sort of HR department permanently. And if the job market dries up like it has, where you're just another mid-level dev in a sea of thousands, that gap in your work history is going to render you absolutely unemployable. I have no idea what that gap in my work history has to do with my skill as a software engineer (aside from the fact that I have had lots of time to practice), but it makes me radioactive.

My life is currently hinging on whether or not my reapplication goes through. If it doesn't... I really don't know what I'm going to do. Getting a job in my field is clearly not an option anymore, and there isn't much other work I'm really all that able to do.

All I can do to get through my days is to try very hard not to think about that. It's grim and it sucks and I really don't anticipate this ending well for me, but I'm trying to stay hopeful.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Damn. I am sorry to hear that.

Sadly, it is not an unusual story (for me). I have heard similar bureaucratic Catch-22 stories for years.

Basically, no one wants to acknowledge that people with mental health issues even exist (unless it's a family member, then "That's different...").

They get totally shafted. Criminals tend to get treated better.

[HappMacDonald]

> There's a saying: "Winners do what they need to do. Losers do what they want to do."

What would such a winner "win" though, if as soon as you get to do anything you want that means you lose?

[ChrisMarshallNY]

First, it’s a pithy aphorism; not scientific fact. I think the original source may have been a sportscaster.

Second, it’s interesting that the takeaway from the saying is that we can never do what we want.