There was a time when I was completely overworked. A short project, but it was devastating. It was stressful for everyone involved, but mostly so for me and a colleague of mine. I was in my early thirties and she in her early sixties. We worked day and night, taking taxis to and from work, to get home, for 4 hours of sleep. She came out of the period unscathed, no problem at all while I developed claustrophobia, insomnia, paranoia and depression.
Those went away, after some time, within a year or so. But I, to this day, think that I dodged a bullet. It could’ve gone so much worse.
One big learning, or realisation, that I had, from that experience, was that taking one of those self tests, showed all the signs of being over worked and stressed. But. I didn’t feel stressed. That was the killer. I didn’t feel stressed, and so I kept going thinking ‘I guess those tests/signs apparently don’t apply to me’.
Never again.