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stefdasca's blog

By stefdasca, 10 months ago, In English

Hello Codeforces,

Today I'm going to talk about something that is often overlooked in competitive setups in academics and especially STEM, which is Mental Health. During my competitive years and my life, I often felt very bad about where I was standing and looking back, I realize that things could have gone much better for me if I were to take the right steps.

Over the years, I developed pieces of advice that can help you overcome these issues and while it is not by any means professional advice, it can be very helpful as far as managing the stress of competing at the very top goes. It is something I give a lot of importance to nowadays when coaching people or when I give people advice in general.

Here is the link to the video.

I would also like to thank everyone who helped me made this video, by listening to my ideas and sharing their stories, which helped me tell things from a broader perspective as far as this topic goes. Their support has been invaluable and I am forever grateful to them opening up, since this can be something very difficult to do nowadays.

I hope you find the video useful and let's have a meaningful discussion about this topic, because I believe we as a community can do so much better than the increasing toxicity that has been noticed by many other people before me, including numerous blogs and commenters.

Disclaimer
  • Vote: I like it
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  • Vote: I do not like it

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10 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it
OMG! Moldova reference!
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10 months ago, # |
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Auto comment: topic has been updated by stefdasca (previous revision, new revision, compare).

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9 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

why the downvotes

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    9 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

    This is honestly the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my 7+ years of being around on CF too, it is a serious topic which I really think deserves more attention from people around here

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9 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

Not sure why there were so many down-votes, I watched the video and I think there was genuinely good advice applicable for many including myself. I'd encourage everyone to watch the video even if it means it gets you thinking about mental health, which we can sometimes overlook in the competitive programming community and I personally believe it's extremely important.

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    9 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    Thank you for your support! I am happy to see that you found the advice given there as useful and it is indeed a very important topic as you have very well explained.

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      9 months ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

      Thanks for the video, I was feeling depressed two days ago since I failed USACO Gold unlike my friends.

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        9 months ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +9 Vote: I do not like it

        Thanks for your support! Means a lot to me and I'm happy to see my video was on point.

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9 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

Thank you for the video. I have suffered mental health issues not due to CP but from other competitive exams in life. I am sure this video will definitely help someone who is suffering the same. We have only life and CP is something we all love. I am sure we all want to love it and not grind so much that we start hating it.

I am new to the CP community but i am happy to see important things such as these being talked openly. <3

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9 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Just at the first section out of ten, and I have already felt exposed...

Good work calling out on this issue, Stef! Really appreciated that people are pointing out the danger of mental health negligence nowadays, instead of treating mental problems as nonsense excuses.

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    9 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

    Thanks for your support! Means a lot to me and I'm happy to see my video was on point.

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9 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

you are right,but i ak ioi