Developers Burnout, Sensory Deprivation Tanks and Lamb Shanks

Hey Steem community!

My name’s Brandon and this is my #introduceyourself post!

_{Photo creds: (instagram.com/tnz_aesthetix)}

Uh, yeah, this is me, mid conversation with person taking this photo for Steemit, saying something like "Steemit's not like that bro, hear me out, its different! (giggles)"

Im 25 years old, I live in Cape Town, South Africa. I have a career in software development, I am working toward finishing my degree in software as well. I also have a few software projects that I am working on with a couple of other developers on the side of all this - some of which I will post about as they near completion in the future.

I have an interest in a variety of things such as Software (ofcourse), Cryptocurrency (gotta get that STEEM yo), crypto and forex trading (technical analysis tips and tricks are my favourite), music, travel, food, hiking and other outdoor adventures!

With that in mind, my feed will consist of mostly random events that stem from the above interests. The content I post will be be focused more around documenting than content creation.
The content will be inspired by whatever is around me, wherever I might be at the time of writing - if I think it’s cool, I’ll post about it and share it!
[essentially, I’ll just be myself at the end of the day:)]

So as part of my first post, I’d actually like to talk about something developers may experience in their careers, and share a method I have learnt this past weekend to remedy the situation if you find yourself in a similar state in your life.
The sensation I wanna talk about is called “Developer’s Burnout” (Quite a few articles on the subject if you google it).

Despite the name, I think anybody can experience a burnout.
For me, juggling student life, work life and side project goals all together for the last year and a half, developers burnout is no stranger to me. Over time I have become better at recognising it and managing it to ensure I can recover before it gets all too hectic.

The end of last week had me feeling like I was headed for a burnout and I was in search of something to help me relax. I’ve tried simple things like sitting in a cinema and just chilling out, going for a drive with a couple friends, or just going out for a run. Some would suggest sleep, but many a time I found myself laying staring at the ceiling for 2-5 hours, with my mind racing about how I could solve a problem in one of the many things I was working on at the time hahaha… And the problem with all the above (except sleeping) is that they all require some kind of physical or mental investment into getting the rewards out of them, which is not ideal when you’re burnt out as you might imagine.

So, under advisement of one of my colleagues at work, I went and visited a place called FLOATZERO in Cape Town, at 15 on Orange Hotel.
Float Zero is a company that provides sensory deprivation tanks for clients to relax, destress, unwind. As they say on their site “A simple way to achieve profound relaxation, meditation & wellness”

Sounds like just what I need right?

So I got there, and was assigned my own private float room and all, where I was instructed to take a shower and get comfortable before getting into the tank pictured below:

You’re given the option to have relaxing music play while you’re floating or you could be in complete silence (the way it should be, although, I opted for the music for some really odd reason… anyway…).

Not expecting too much from the experience, I hopped into the tank, shut the tank door, pushed a button to start the session and off I went. The water temperature was about body temperature, I closed my eyes and just floated around in there for 45 minutes.

After finishing, I took another hot shower, and thereafter, my oh my……

My body was so relaxed, it felt like I had just come out of a thorough massage or like I had been sitting in a hot jacuzzi for a couple hours. My mind was now clear and I felt really chilled, like this was the best week of my life!

When I got out of the float room, I was offered a pot of tea from a selection of teas they had in a lounge area upstairs, where guests can relax, read a book and zone out after their session:

I had some of the forest berry tea and sat around for another 15 minutes before getting a ride to my next destination for the evening - supper with my immediate family at the Protea Fire and Ice Hotel, where I enjoyed a lovely lamb shank with some red wine before heading home

Wow... WHAT A DAY!

It was such an awesome experience to have visited float zero and would definitely do it again!
Float tanks are an awesome way to completely disconnect from the world for a bit and regain some energy after being strained for a period of time.
It's by far the best method I have tried so far and would recommend you give it a try.

Let me know what you guys think about this post/the float tanks/the food.
Feel free to ask questions, and show this post some love!