[larrys]

"smoking weed actually is quite therapeutic. It is an outlet for stress and the never-ending wall of burden. Development and startups are evolving so fast, and it often feels like you are never adequate."

My advice? I will fall back on the saying "if you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen".

There are many reasons why someone might have to medicate themselves if they have a situation that is not under their control (family problems, health as only two). And I"m not saying that someone should medicate themselves in those situations but just that it's more understandable when you have to deal with some external things that you have little or no control over. But with respect to "getting ahead" if you can't take the pressure, and you need to medicate, you should seriously consider setting your goals a bit lower. To me if you are thinking of this as a "never-ending wall of burden" then you have not chosen the correct career path.

Of course others may disagree and feel differently but I've seen to many people reach for the brass ring and as a result of pressure which they can't handle fall into some dependency or behavioral problem as a result of that dependency.

[Valid]

I have to say, the idea of lowering my goals in light of increasing stress haunts me at night. It would be so easy (or at least it feels that way now) to just stop being ambitious and stop chasing the dream, as stress levels increase along with risks. I just can't do it. Even though it's intensely stressful at times, I think that striving for a grand goal is a part of who I am, in much the same way that my personal stress tolerance is. If I was going to change anything, it would be to reduce my stress through any other means than to stop trying to achieve more than I am physical capable. I take nootropics, stimulants (light ones, these days, though I had previously been on much stronger ones) for cognitive/performance enhancement so I can excel further than I would be able without them. I could have removed the need for them, but that, to me, is a far worse fate.

Just my thoughts.

[larrys]

See now everyone (investors, friends, perhaps even a spouse) is going to egg you on because they won't have to clean up the mess that might result from the amount of stress you are putting yourself under.

(I say "might" because I don't know enough about the specifics of your situation.)

But I do know that for sure anyone who eggs you on will have no detriment to the choices that you have made to get ahead.

I do understand how you have to do this because everyone else is taking that route.

Back in the day I never even tried pot. Or cigarettes. And everyone else was doing it back then. But then again it wasn't used to enhance performance or get ahead. So I can't honestly say what I would have done if faced with a peer group that was using performance enhancing drugs that I had to compete with.

[fleitz]

  And he's tradin in his Chevy for
  A Cadillac ack ack ack ack ack
  You ought-a know by now
  If he can't drive with a broken back
  At least he can polish the fenders