@aras I hope you find a way to keep working on Blender.

Maybe have a look at Godot.

Maybe you have some totally new software idea in mind.

However, don't burn out!
🤗

@aras my all time short term solution: a bath + audio book 🙃

as for the outside of coding part... it really is bad. but it feels nice that one is not alone.

@aras There is nothing you can do about the way Unity is going. Just accept it and move on. Not your circus, not your monkeys.

Do what you feel is necessary, but no more than that. Duty is the death of love. This cool tinkering with Blender may soon become a chore if you allow things to get too serious.

Other than that, the spring is coming, the days are getting longer. It will get better.

@aras you plant trees which are not for yourself. Can't ask for more.

Wrt Unity, they're gonna have to keep firing people until their expenses are quite a lot less than their income. It's the IPO overvaluation in reverse.

@aras I'm not sure if I have anything new to contribute, since great comments and points have already been made in the comments.

At least for me, stopping following the news so closely, reducing social media, learning new things and doing something completely outside of the computer screen helped me to get a fresh air from a quite bad time I was in.

So, in any case, I hope you have a great week and year ✨

@aras I don’t know if it’ll work for you, but:
On the personal scale:
I’m trying to stay healthy (eat, sleep, sport, get enough light, avoid infections, …) and get fitter (mild strength & HIIT exercises) and help my family do the same.

On the “world at large” scale:
We’ve identified a bunch of possible scenarios of how world events could negatively impact us and have some rough plans & preparations for mitigation.

Tech/professional:
I’ve started actively preferring…[1/2]

@aras Eventually it'll become a normal enough feeling to make you numb to it.

Find something you want to do, or something you have to do, and just do that. All the things going to shit are probably outside of your control, you might as well ignore them.

@aras Well, three times a week I pull myself away from my doom scrolling happy place and do some strength training instead.

Some barbells, a yoga mat and a good book with some routines are all I need. I really try not to half-ass it and improve my personal best when possible. I like the results and doing something physical is a really good balance for me.

It would also be if the world wouldn't go to shit. :)

@aras I found some videos from the last XOXO very uplifting. Especially some that start by acknowledging the situation is certainly bad. Erin Kissane, Cabel Sasser.

Regarding the war... always be ready for the worst case scenario. And I am of the opinion that no war is worth dying for and fleeing to another country is no shame.

@aras When overwhelmed (which happens a lot these days for all of us!) I try to first tune out of the noise whether geopolitics or products, and second focus on what I can control and improve instead of living in frustration with what I can't.

I know cleaning the kitchen or patching open source does not improve the state of the world. But it does get me to the mental place where I can be effective and have positive interactions with people around me.

@aras Yeah what a world we live in. Feels like it's all unraveling. I personally need to stay away from the news but it's damn hard to actually do it with how everything is going.

Take care of yourself, and try to be outdoors. For me at least that's kind of the only thing that helps.

@aras Some thoughts because I had a similar feeling a month or two ago but things are looking up:

- It really helps to stop thinking about things that do not depend on you at all. I stopped using algo feeds, and aggressively unfollow people on Mastodon/Bsky who share politics.

- It really helps to take any things that you actually have power to change and are depressed about, and try and fix them.

- You don't owe the world anything; just focus on whatever is fun for you, and impact be damned.

@aras
- uninstall Twitter
- spend less time online and more time with family. Kids in particular are a lense on the future that's less bleak.
- play more music

There's actually also upsides here, both politically and personally. There is a chance Europe comes out of this with a renewed sense of self and purpose. I for once have finally reached the point where my own mortality is less of a burden and more of a relief. That's a huge burden of my shoulders, at least sometimes.

@aras For me:
• Step away from ‘current events’ for most of the day.
• Life goes on: distract with mundane stuff: daytrips, friends, the household, work.
• Don’t feel too responsible. Not voting nazis, and sharing your opinions and support is a good base line. Anything on top (donating, protesting, contributing to open source 😉) is a net gain.
• Some escapism.

For you:
• Unity’s impact is lasting: free user friendly engines for everybody is a thing now.
• Thanks for running this masto instance.