Mental Health Check in Web 3, NFTs and Tech
Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better — Henry Rollins
The concept of loneliness can be a paradox but is dependent on the perspective from which it is viewed. We all have experienced it at some point in our life and some are even experiencing it at the moment.
The world has recorded significant rise in new technologies like the metaverse, blockchain and of recent — NFTs. All these have really boosted the morale of tech enthusiasts to do more and be more and frantically a lot of people are desirous to get involved so as not to be left behind but sadly this has had a compounding effect on the increase in broken mental health and resulted in people getting depressed.
I decided to write this article having experienced first hand what it is to be depressed. In this article, I will be sharing some of the tips that helped me manage it as well as how I go about my journey in tech /web 3, how I try to keep my mental health in check and I hope the LonelyPopNFT community can benefit from my few tips as well as the Web 3 community at large.
My first experience of loneliness and depression in the tech space came during the COVID period after I had been disqualified from a UX/UI design internship program which I was determined to complete. I was almost at the ending stages when I unfortunately got disqualified. This had a compounding effect on my mental health as I saw imposter syndrome set in and I felt I was undeserving of even making it that far in the program and the constant doubt of my previous works were on the rise. I had to take a week off social media, not designing and decided to stay lonely. To make matters worst, the laptop which I borrowed for that period got spoilt. All these happened within the space of a week and wreaked real havoc on my mental health.
Deep down I knew I had to make a recovery as I knew that it wasn’t really my thing to be pessimistic. I started first by opening up and talking to friends and family about how bad I felt being disqualified and I got encouraging responses which helped me navigate my way out. I heavily advice doing this because bottling everything in you doesn’t help in any way but when you open up especially to someone who is empathetic it gives you that sense of feeling that someone understands you and you are not alone instead you are #LonelyTogether.
Taking breaks is also necessary and should never be meddled with. I see a lot of NFT project that require excessive grinding to stand a chance in the project and many people do this at the expense of their personal time, sleep, family time and can even have a toll on individuals mental health which is not good in any way. This was also what led to my depression during the internship program because I was active almost 24/7 replying messages, designing and trying to be active in the internship and that made it a hard pill to swallow when I was disqualified. So admist the grind, prioritize breaks.
Another step I took during that phase is to feed on helpful and positive content ranging from writeups, video contents, movies and generally anything that will leave off a positive effect on me. I cut down on engaging in controversial topics and discussions as I knew I wasn’t in the best state of mind to engage in such topics. I focused heavily on meditating on things that really helped me.
With time, I noticed my mental health improving and my depression melting away. I developed a new mindset and instead on berating on my disqualification, I appreciated and applauded myself for the work I have put in to get that far in the internship. I began to value myself more because of the knowledge I saw I had gained from my time in the internship and in exactly 2 months from my time of disqualification, I got my first job as a UX/UI Designer.
Web 3 Ecosystem and NFT Grind
Moving forward, I would now put into perspective the Web 3 ecosystem as a whole and how we can better approach it and not at the expense of our mental health. There are so many NFT projects out there and so many bluechips like the Azukis, Galverse, BAYC, Cryptopunks. The success of this projects has really had positive effect on the web 3 space but sadly it has also had some not-so-good impact — I’ll tell you how. At the early stages of this projects they are a lot persons who had the opportunity to join in but for one reason or the other they faded the project and it later on turned out successful. Some of this people right now are filled with regrets that they didn’t make the decision to join in and are beating themselves up for this.
So what can we learn from this now?
Good projects never end, like literally. You can’t be everywhere, that is just the reality of it. Your decisions and choices are genuine and if you’re lucky to be early in a project that does well, fine you sure should be happy but if you didn’t join just know that they are many more good projects that will be launched and you definitely Gonna Make It. So no regrets, instead be optimistic and hopeful. Be of good cheer and know that you are not to be blamed. This is also the reason why I so much like the LonelyPopNFT project, they prioritize mental health awareness and cancel the toxic grind culture.
Another strategy I have devised that have helped me stay disciplined in the pursuit of NFT project is to have a spreadsheet for NFT projects that interests me. The aim of this is to help you have a clear sight in the midst of the hundreds of project within your sight. This will help you plan strategies for each project and this will help prevent you from burnout which comes when you try to pursue every project out there.
I hope you have gained valuable insights from the few tips on how to keep your sanity in the Web 3/NFT/Tech Community as a whole.
Till we meet again, stay cool and WAGMI.
#LonelyTogether #LonelyPopMHAE xoxo