The line between comfort zone and healthy authenticity?

[Gesundheit]

A month ago, a friend of mine called and was talking nonsense. He was hallucinating stuff and having delusions. He still does. Initial diagnosis was psychosis, they put him on medications, and left him to be reassessed a while later.

How he got here is a bit tragic but basically he stressed himself out so fucking much beyond his comfort zone until he finally broke down. He was having trouble with studying like not being able to do more than a few hours a day. However he tried to break his limits but they ended up breaking him. He broke down one week before the exams and couldn't attend and now he has to wait another year to have another go hopefully when he gets better.

My question is how do you know what your limits are? My friend thought that he was just being lazy and that he could have done more so he pushed so hard while being pressured on by his parents. I mean a lot of people do study for several hours a day. I know many who do personally but that still did not excuse my friend.

I find myself in a similar situation. I don't find myself able to take so much information in a brief period of time. I had to repeat two times to pass some years, and I can only imagine that if I did the same as my friend I would end up with psychosis as well, but perhaps of a different kind since my personality is a little bit different. Some people think that I'm being lazy but I work well and usually make better results at work than my colleagues. It's only more difficult to me when it comes to studying abstract stuff like most of what universities teach, or really anything highly intellectual. At home I try to study and focus but I get distracted all the time thinking and contemplating all sorts of things including the materials at hand. I get stuck and move very slowly even if I force myself to sit down and read, sometimes I don't even feel like I read some lines. My eyes do read but my mind does not. I believe some of this is practice related but still it's not easy for me to practice studying at all.

I put this question in this category cuz I think it fits best here but don't make this a limitation of your insights. Please feel free to share your thoughts. I would like to hear as many perspectives as possible, thanks.

[4201]

I am no expert and in no way I can tell you what went wrong with your friend. However, here's food for thought that might interest you.

What makes work being work and game being game? Is it how much of your brain is being used during the task? Why is it that, after 8 hours of playing some games (video games, board games, sports and etc.) you may feel physically tired if the task was physical but you don't generally feel mentally burned out. In fact, for many people it's the opposite, playing games allow them to relax, recharging their internal "batteries".

What I found for myself is that games cannot be differentiated from work by the nature of the task. You cannot say a task is inherently game or work just by knowing what the task is. What makes a game a game and work work is what you think of it, how you classify the task. Is it something you like to do or is it something you are putting pressure on yourself for doing? Perhaps people don't break emotionally because they do too many tasks or for too long, but because they put too much pressure on themselves to do things neurotically, until it is not bearable and they get a breakdown.

Is it possible to work without any pressure? Doing your work as if it was a game. Not doing it because you have to do it but because you enjoy doing it and you value the result of that work. I cannot tell you its possible, because I never truly achieved it, but I'm working hard at it!  

[Gesundheit]

@4201 Thanks for the perspective.

For me, regardless of the joyfulness of the task, I prefer physical activities. If I had to choose between working in labour for 8 hours a day or studying for 4 hours a day, I would always choose labour work. I don't know why that is. Most people seem intellect-oriented but not me. Although I have my intellectual moments. I enjoy working my body and resting my mind. I don't know why that is.

Edited July 19, 2020 by Gesundheit