It shouldn't be this hard to get my own f*cking data.

When I started looking I found that my data was scattered everywhere.

This is my sequence of actions that helped me escape burnout, from deep despair to hopefulness.

At the start of this I did not know I was burnt out or what the word really meant. In reflection I have been through many cycles of burnout, with the last (and hopefully final) one being the worst.

I have never built an MCP server or published an npm package, and definitely not one with multi-agent coordination. Until 2 days ago.

In December 2023 I was burnt out. I did not have a name for it then. Just symptoms: exhausted, unable to think straight, nearly 100kg, in what I can only describe as a pit of despair.

By June 2024 I had lost 20kg, reversed Type 2 Diabetes, and understood for the first time why I kept burning out. The catalyst was not a book, a coach, or a productivity system. It was writing a song.

Some days I feel like the Incredible Hulk.

Not the smashing things part, though that would be satisfying. The Bruce Banner part, walking through the world feeling different and carrying something most people don't understand.

It's not easy bein' green. Except I am not looking for a cure. I am looking for my tribe.

I am rubbish at keeping a journal.

There, I said it. After years of buying notebooks, downloading apps, and telling myself "this time will be different", I finally admitted it. I am simply not built that way.

I never meant to give up alcohol completely but 6 years ago on Christmas Eve 2019 became the last time I drank any.

This is my story and if it helps just one person then it is worth sharing with you.

A computer I recovered from my shed is currently running 72 pods including my web site as a single worker in one of my production Kubernetes clusters.

Everything is running on 8-year-old desktop computers, one repurposed as a worker node the others as a control node and load balancer.

A hippie, goth, metalhead from another planet.

That is the best way I can describe my wife to be, Charlotte, the first time I met her 37 years ago.

Yesterday I sold her Kia Carnival, as she is no longer able to drive and replaced it with a modified Hyundai Staria, which has a tail lift for her wheelchair.

In my leadership roles a frequently asked question of me was "why are you still on the tools?".

I can't tell you the number of times I was told to stop and leave it to the team by whatever manager I had at the time. Of course, I ignored those instructions and carried on learning and using new tools.