Self-reflection after GitHub's burnout workshop for maintainers

I think almost every open source maintainer can agree that being a maintainer challenges you in ways you'd never expect.

I know I've experienced unique stresses with Universal Fantasy Toolkit (always self-imposed). That's why I was so excited to participate in GitHub's first workshop for their private Maintainers Community.

The chosen format for this Zoom-based workshop fondly reminded me of participating in MozFest workshops. Everyone was super friendly, open, and shared tons of self-reflection and notes. To respect everyone's privacy, I can't share what anyone else said, but I did write down a few self-reflections on burnout based on the prompts written by the organizers.

• Paying more attention to my feelings matters. I realized that sometimes the signals my body is sending my brain can get lost or confused without conscious reflection.
• I have a limit to my energy and my output, but I haven't done great at paying attention to what that limit is, even as I've crossed the line. By taking a better accounting, and by listening when my friends and family are concerned about me, I can be a better about preserving myself. It's ok to set explicit limits/boundaries to protect myself.

Overall I'm very excited to participate in more maintainer workshops, and if the maintainer burnout workshop is held a second time I highly recommend it!