Thanks for writing this, as someone who feels more at home in EA spaces I do sometimes feel like EAs are pretty critical of rationalist sub-culture (often reasonably) but take for granted the valuable things rationalism has contributed to EA ideas and norms.

Hi David, if I've understood you correctly, I agree that a reason to return home as for other priorities that have nothing to do with impact. I personally did not return home for the extra happiness or motivation required to stay productive, but because I valued these other things intrinsically, which Julia articulates better here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/zu28unKfTHoxRWpGn/you-have-more-than-one-goal-and-that-s-fine  

Ah man I feel you. To be honest I've been avoiding the abyss recently with some recent career vs family dilemmas. Lemme know if you want to have a chat sometime.

For sure. I think Chana does a good job of talking about some of the downsides of living in a hub similar to what you mention: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZRZHJ3qSitXQ6NGez/about-going-to-a-hub-1

Wow that's gotta be one of the fastest forum post to plan changes on record. I'm glad to hear this resolved what sounds like a big and tough question in your life. As I mentioned in the post, I do think stints in hubs can be a great experience.

I do think the messaging is a little gentler than it used to be, such as the 80k content and a few forum posts emphasising that there are a lot of reasons to make life choices besides impact, and that that is ok. This is hard in general with written content aimed at a broad audience because some people probably need to hear the message to sacrifice a little more, and some a little less.

This is a good question. I'm honestly not sure what I would have done differently overall. My guess is I would have gone back a little sooner, and invested a little more in maintaining friendships in Melbourne while away. 

Thinking about this sooner also might have changed how I approached dating while in London if I would have known in advance I was always heading home. 

For anyone wondering whether to subscribe, I’ve been subscribed for a month and it’s an excellent newsletter. Once a week email covering things happening in the news with forecasts, reasoning, and aiming to cover what actually matters. It’s great. 

Thanks for sharing Lucas. I appreciate the fact that I'm reading a post about you stepping back before burnout or something similarly difficult to recover from, and moving down to a level that feels sustainable long term.

One thing that strikes me as interesting when I think about my own experience and my impression of the people around me is that it can be hard to tell what my own reasons are when I might distance myself from EA. I might describe myself as EA adjacent and this could be some combination of:

1. Seeing the 'typical' EA as someone who is much more hardcore and believes in all of it.
2. Some part of my brain is always unconsciously tracking status.
3. I am worried about the impact it will have on my ability to get jobs in the future.
4. I might be more persuasive or likeable to the person in front of me if I distance myself from EA.   

And as humans often do, I might just tell myself a story that is more flattering than what is actually happening. I might tell myself that this is a very strategic choice to persuade this person to care about AI Safety, or for my long-term career prospects, or to protect my organisation from future scandals, and EA being a low(ish) status in some circles right now might be doing the heavy lifting.