My friend directed me to this NYTimes article posted by @BostonKate on Twitter earlier today and I’ve already sent it around to 5 of my colleagues. I know EXACTLY how the girl who cried at the April Fools joke feels. The stress and competition to be unique on the web (or at work, or in LIFE) is overwhelming and lately I’ve definitely felt the need to retreat and stay away in order to nurture my own voice. Cause really, the one thing any individual person can do better than anyone else is be themselves.

So for all those journalists, or just plain old hardworking people out there, read this and know you’re not alone:

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In a World of Online News, Burnout Starts Younger

By JEREMY W. PETERS

It was April Fools’ Day last year, and Politico’s top two editors sent an e-mail message to their staff advising of a new 5 a.m. start time for all reporters.

“These pre-sunrise hours are often the best time to reach top officials or their aides,” the editors wrote, adding that reporters should try to carve out personal time “if you need it,” in the midafternoon when Internet traffic slows down.

But rather than laugh, more than a few reporters stared at the e-mail message in a panicked state of disbelief.

“There were several people who didn’t think it was a joke. One girl actually cried,” said Anne Schroeder Mullins, who wrote for Politico until May, when she left to start her own public relations firm. “I definitely had people coming up to me asking me if it was true.”

Such is the state of the media business these days: frantic and fatigued. Young journalists who once dreamed of trotting the globe in pursuit of a story are instead shackled to their computers, where they try to eke out a fresh thought or be first to report even the smallest nugget of news — anything that will impress Google algorithms and draw readers their way…continue”

Michael Appleton for The New York Times

On Gawker’s “big board,” reporters can check the most-viewed articles, a list updated hourly.