Rollercoaster pattern - Dev Retro 2022

There is a specific pattern in place that happens to as much a single person as to segments of the population starting something and might be big as a new revolutionary technology or small like a habit:

First off, there is nuance in finding something, everyone is excited, big promises get made, aspirations are set and, hypes are navigated.

Then slowly but surely all of those goodies face the test of time, disillusionment happens and, some aspects of the reality of things punch you in the face.

And a slow emotional decline follows.

In a sense, "reality kicks in" but it isn't as much Reality as a phase in which start perceiving the limitations of the situation, maybe even matching the task at hand with our inadequacies and past performance.

A few things that I've personally seen happen in this phase are:

• Distancing myself from The Quest in a hope of not having to face not the task but the fear of the task, this distancing comes in different flavors, some choose denial of importance, some again disdain, and others sheer escapism.

• A huge set of past experiences creep into your thought patterns as to say, here's why we shouldn't do this, remember that time you tried something and failed? Better conserve your energy and avoid the unknown.

  I find this one to be the most subtle as it has different lines of defense, it starts with flashes of past experiences, and if it doesn't find a way to stop you undermines you day by day until either you remind yourself that you're here to make your dreams come true or obtain your goal.

In this situation is where we lose the most short-minded people, those in only for the spark, and those that are unable to process their emotions.

It's a sad departure honestly, you might have buddied with people until last month only to find out that they've been slowly dropping off on the promise you made to each other.

Worst-case scenario, you're the one leaving your quest.

For the remaining people who are inexperienced in that field, it's a challenging ride to the bottom. I've experienced this myself with software engineering and computer science and without a support group, it can get very grim.

For some grey wolves, it's when you start to weed out snake oil salesmen and bad decisions.

On a side note:

It's funny how lack of introspection and emotional management leads people to feel like something "wasn't their fate"

Also funny that some people make it to a perceived destiny by being naive enough to still believe in that child-like spark of initial joy, bug or feature?

These are seriously good skills to invest in, even the ability to believe and hope!

With this newfound emotional stability, somewhere in between a "grim outlook" and "glimpses of hope on the horizon" a group of people or a single person that survived the rapid downfall keeps on grinding at their thing not expecting much.

It gets sucky, gets boring, gets demeaning, and gets annoying.

Until you start seeing some practical results, and it is very different to each of us what a practical result is, each of us finds the climb at various points and with other events.

But the fundamental truth is that if you persist, there will be a climb out of the swamp it's almost guaranteed.

All this time we have been talking about the emotional rollercoaster, once emotions settle or the epic gets deemed done, we understand something that can shift perspective entirely.

This rollercoaster was about emotions not objective results and we soon come to a new understanding of what the process looks like improvement-wise:

Surprise!

And in the end, there is this understanding that you were improving most of the time no matter what you perceived as your emotional reality.

Horizons start to expand and you wonder, was the beginning phase only hype? Could it be that I wasn't only dreaming? And another cycle starts, hopefully, you have the privilege to enjoy these cycles throughout the year, with each time a more profound understanding of this pattern and what to expect.

I do not think that the Valley of Sorrow can be eliminated but a lot of it can be accepted as a normal part of the journey toward an accomplishment. And with acceptance, emotions wreak less havoc, and with less havoc comes a clear sight.