I went to Antarctica because I was burned out. This is not a big word that is said on the Internet - I literally burned out at work. Projects are not inspiring, people are annoying, you can’t get enough sleep at home, and you can’t rest at work. So I thought: maybe a reboot is needed.
For the first week, I planned to just lie in the cabin and look at the ceiling. But on the third day I went out on deck, saw the glacier, and something inside clicked. I stood next to the handrail, and I felt a calmness that I had not felt in years.
It wasn’t “I found myself and life made sense.” No, nothing like that. It was, “okay, the world exists regardless of my deadlines, and that’s okay.”
During the landings, I didn’t put much pressure on myself. I just walked, looked, breathed slowly. There was no need to “conquer Antarctica”, you just had to be there. And this was the difference - I usually try to “make the most of” everywhere, but here I was just there.
The people on board turned out to be very interesting. There was a woman paleontologist who talked about the history of the icy continent, and there was a helicopter pilot who looked at nature with completely different eyes. I listened and at some point I realized: I had completely stopped listening to people. I just talked at work and waited for the meeting to end. And here I listened, and it was pleasant.
The crew is very attentive to the environment, and this touched me. They told how animals react to tourists, how to behave correctly so as not to disturb the ecosystem. And I realized that care here is not marketing, it’s a real attitude towards the place.
Penguins, whales, fur seals - I saw them, and every time it was “oh, something is alive again, and it exists independently of me.” It was a nice lecture on humility, if I may say so.
There was a library on board, and I got out of there with a book about psychology - and for some reason, against the backdrop of Antarctica, this book sounded completely different. I read and thought: “okay, maybe I’m not such a failure as I thought, maybe I’m just tired.”
Cons: Expensive and I had to save up for this trip. But I decided it was an investment in my mental health, and it paid off. There was sometimes some rocking on board, but I quickly got used to it.
I returned as a different person, not in the sense of “I have changed radically,” but somehow... softer. I can listen to people again, I am interested in work again, I see beauty in the everyday again. And this is because I saw Antarctica and realized that I am a small part of a big world, and this is good.
10 out of 10 - this trip saved my head at a rather critical moment.
I went to Antarctica because I was burned out. This is not a big word that is said on the Internet - I literally burned out at work. Projects are not inspiring, people are annoying, you can’t get enough sleep at home, and you can’t rest at work. So I thought: maybe a reboot is needed.
For the first week, I planned to just lie in the cabin and look at the ceiling. But on the third day I went out on deck, saw the glacier, and something inside clicked. I stood next to the handrail, and I felt a calmness that I had not felt in years.
It wasn’t “I found myself and life made sense.” No, nothing like that. It was, “okay, the world exists regardless of my deadlines, and that’s okay.”
During the landings, I didn’t put much pressure on myself. I just walked, looked, breathed slowly. There was no need to “conquer Antarctica”, you just had to be there. And this was the difference - I usually try to “make the most of” everywhere, but here I was just there.
The people on board turned out to be very interesting. There was a woman paleontologist who talked about the history of the icy continent, and there was a helicopter pilot who looked at nature with completely different eyes. I listened and at some point I realized: I had completely stopped listening to people. I just talked at work and waited for the meeting to end. And here I listened, and it was pleasant.
The crew is very attentive to the environment, and this touched me. They told how animals react to tourists, how to behave correctly so as not to disturb the ecosystem. And I realized that care here is not marketing, it’s a real attitude towards the place.
Penguins, whales, fur seals - I saw them, and every time it was “oh, something is alive again, and it exists independently of me.” It was a nice lecture on humility, if I may say so.
There was a library on board, and I got out of there with a book about psychology - and for some reason, against the backdrop of Antarctica, this book sounded completely different. I read and thought: “okay, maybe I’m not such a failure as I thought, maybe I’m just tired.”
Cons: Expensive and I had to save up for this trip. But I decided it was an investment in my mental health, and it paid off. There was sometimes some rocking on board, but I quickly got used to it.
I returned as a different person, not in the sense of “I have changed radically,” but somehow... softer. I can listen to people again, I am interested in work again, I see beauty in the everyday again. And this is because I saw Antarctica and realized that I am a small part of a big world, and this is good.
10 out of 10 - this trip saved my head at a rather critical moment.
