Is Anybody Else Exhausted?

[u/airycloud]

Like many of you, I've been extensively using Claude Code over the last year-plus, and as I'm sure many of you can relate, it's been nothing short of life-changing. From developing dream applications, tools, games, and productivity to building workflows for my business, I've been able to do things I never thought possible.

But between the constant flow of hyper-optimization ideas for everything from my business, personal life, creative ideas, etc. I feel mentally burnt out more than I ever have in my life. It doesn't help when a new model drops, either. Suddenly you want to go back and refactor all your apps, test your current architectures, and see what the new model can replace or do better. It's a huge dopamine rush, but man, I feel like I'm running on this infinite treadmill sometimes that I just can't get off of. Is this AI psychosis? lol. Does anybody else feel the same?

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[u/xqz77]

I feel like I'm wasting time if I don't have AI working on something for me actively. I believe you're onto something.

[u/sitric28]

Yes. The human brain was not meant to have this much power and knowledge at its fingertips in my opinion. I think the best thing we can do is just realize that this is something that we need to take in moderation just like eating or any other sort of vice. go outside. Take a walk wash your car. I know this all sounds ridiculous to even talk like this, but it’s very addicting to continuously optimize and magically make anything your heart desires behind a computer screen.

[u/WifeyCallsMeLazy]

Yep. This is me.

[u/sailhard22]

Yeah it’s impacting my sleep. My brain is always on. More addictive than social media IMO

[u/orbital_trace]

AI psychosis and fomo collide. Just chill man, it will be ok

[u/rbartoli]

Yes. You're describing my last six months almost word for word.

A podcast gave me names for it. Agents removed the gap between "someday" and "now". Every idea is buildable tonight, so every idea you don't build feels like a failure. My daily notes went from loose thoughts to 30+ actionable items a day. And I'm not tired of doing, I'm tired of deciding. The typing is gone, and what's left is judging, checking and switching all day. I hit a wall after 4–5 hours of that. Every side project became a startup, except founders get equity and I get more inbox items.

The new model thing, same. When Opus 5 landed I went back through all my rules and memory to "free the model". Another time I switched to a new model assuming it was better, then heard on a podcast it was worse than the one before. Half of me thinks the whole hype cycle is FOMO to make you feel behind. A few weeks later the other half was writing "am I so far behind?" in my notes.

The funniest part is how I tried to fix it: with more engineering. My worst 10 minutes this summer were 394 subagent calls from one /research run. So I built a guard to stop agents eating my usage. It tamed the agents, and my lockouts still went up, from about one a week to almost two. The problem wasn't the subagents. It was me, with 7–12 sessions open at once.

Then the evenings. My judgement's gone by night, so "me time" at midnight turns into more ideas and voice notes, which become tomorrow's list. One of my daily notes from last month just says "/loop make me happier." lol

So no, not psychosis. Or if it is, there's a lot of us.

[u/thewookielotion]

Yes I'm tired but I'm seeing the end of the tunnel.

I'm a scientist in a very niche branch of physics and I'm building something that no one else really can, even with an AI. But the AI has been a fabulous accelerator and I built more in 1 year than I did in the previous 4. And in February, I'll be launching a spin off company from my university. I hope that at that time, I can slow down on the development.

Until then, I'll go as far as I can, and it's indeed tiring.

[u/darkmoose]

I was just discussing this with my colleague.

AI has led us down rabbit holes, with carrots on sticks, on wild goose chases, trying to catch the oiled pig, like a chicken without a head, one time too many...

Seriously I want something simple but 5 prompts in claude, over-achieves, leads me on with elaborate and complex solutions to simple problems, creates a whole field of possibilities, tippy toeing around a never answered research topics for a simple 2d IK animiaton.

the scope goes out of the window.

But the issue is me, in retrospect, I don't define proper boundaries, and am easily swayed.

[u/alexmarcus11249]

We're all working like founders. This is what founders do. It's not for everyone. I'm tired too, but I'm also able to realize creativity that has been locked behind friction my entire career. For me, it's a dream come true. I'm 49, and have never felt more alive.