Appreciation is scarce - by Summerbud Chiu
If you are building your own business, searching for a lifetime calling, researching a tough question, creating stuff that might change how others think, and at the same time feeling a lack of appreciation, this article is for you.
On a windy night, I stood beside the window of my room, listening to the wind blowing through trees and fences—a calming moment. But about 3 meters away, a widescreen monitor kept throwing out Slack notifications, each accompanied by a light ping sound. I began to only hear the pings; the whisper of the wind soon faded away, and I felt ill and disgusted by the sound.
This was the moment I realized I might be entering a burnout period. After a series of self-examinations, I noticed the reason is due to I am less appreciated in the workspace, at the same time my work and projects are still "Work in Progress".
During the period of curing my burnout, I became increasingly interested in the concept of appreciation in the human condition, including all forms of thankfulness: the services we offer for a paycheck, the admiration we receive when we change someone else's view of the world, and the applause from the community when we do something great.
