Few days ago I received an email with the link to a beta data science project named “Does left-handed people die younger?”. Sounds interesting, isn’t it? So I decided to give it a try. I had some free time at work and decided to use it practicing my skills.
The description is pretty clear – there was an experiment and data collected showing that among older people there were less left-handed what led to a conclusion that these people don’t live long. The objective of the project was to check this hypothesis.
I imported the data, performed first exploratory steps, made some graphs – everything was good so far and I was enjoying the process. You know, I hate complexity, especially unnecessary, I hate too much words, too much code, too much symbols – when you look at something or trying to read it and you think “what the hell you want from me here?” This was exact same situation – I was trying to read the code and I couldn’t, I was trying to read the description and I couldn’t. I would read the sequence of words, I would understand every single word in that sequence, but I couldn’t figure out what that sequence says, why does that sentence exist. And every time I tried to use a different approach, every time I tried a random solution and it didn’t work, the frustration grew. I realized that I was missing something, something so obvious, but I couldn’t find it. Every time I found one missing part I had an enlightenment, but after a check I saw it’s not enough, there is something else to be fixed. And I would start over. I was loosing my energy dramatically, I knew it, I felt it, tiredness and total block of the mind, hungry and panicking inside.. but I kept trying. Without effect. In two or three hours, I was drought, I just wanted to go to bed and sleep, but it was 3PM and I was still in the office…
I don’t give up easily, but sometimes it just doesn’t worth fighting. Better a little fire to warm us, than a great one to burn us. It’s all about the balance. Your own balance. If you understand something is exhausting you, it’ll be smart to stop, reflect, give yourself some rest, rethink the strategy and start again. I didn’t do that. I paid my price and I am grateful for that. But I am grateful even more for a person that reminded me about this. The person, that told me I have to give myself a rest. Thank you.