i’m curious, how do others deal w/ hiding their pain at work? fwiw i’ve been trying to power through but it’s exhausting. anyone else have to put on a ‘healthy’ face for their job?
the ‘power through’ exhaustion you describe is a genuinely underrecognized cognitive load. actively suppressing or masking discomfort, even unconsciously, demands significant attentional resources, and some occupational physiology models estimate this can increase baseline processing demands by 20-30% during sustained tasks. it’s not just ‘powering through,’ it’s actively working against yourself.
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