Burnout: Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. -Psychology Today
So, like I said in my last post I accomplished a great deal next year, but I think overall it cost me alot as well. I was able to pass Cloud+, Pentest+, CYSA+, and Splunk Certified User. I also completed my Master’s degree. I Competed in 2 National Cyber League CTFs and lead one of my school’s teams each time. I also had to deal with the demands at work that kind of intensified with co-workers coming and going.
By November I really just felt tired.
I basically didn’t want to do anything at least career related and in some ways not even big life stuff. So, because I know myself well enough I took December 2021-January 2022 off. I still worked, but I wasn’t like actively trying to like improve myself.
I didn’t want a little burnout to end up like:
Or Worse:
I didn’t try to study for any new certs, didn’t try to find any challenging ctfs, didn’t take anymore classes, nothing. I just sailed for a bit instead of striving and trying to compensate for starting later than others or being newer to the field. I stopped telling myself I didn’t belong in the conversation or at the table because I just got here and needed to prove something and I just relaxed.
It’s hard to just relax and it’s super hard to silence the voices in your head telling you that you’re not as good or even the voices outside that say the same, but it’s important that we don’t let them overwhelm you and especially don’t let them talk over the voices of confidence.
Build A Security Ninja 