It's not easy being in charge of "the front page of the Internet."
When Yishan Wong stepped down as Reddit's chief executive officer earlier this week, it wasn't quite clear why. It was suggested that there was a dispute over office space, but details were sketchy. On Thursday, Wong took to Quora, a popular question-and-answer website, to explain: The job had exhausted him.
"After two and a half years, I'm basically completely worn out, and it was having significantly detrimental effects on my personal life," Wong wrote.
"I probably pushed myself way too far -- as a first-time CEO, all I knew was that such jobs are supposed to be stressful, so I never really had a good baseline, i.e. how stressful is too stressful," he added.
Wong did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.
Wong started as Reddit's CEO in 2012. During his tenure, Reddit has dealt with several controversies that may have added to his stress, including users' hunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, gun sales on the site, and a "subreddit" users created to post leaked nude photos of celebrities.
Recently, a couple of CEOs have made headlines for stepping down to focus more on having a healthier personal life. Earlier this year, Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO, reportedly resigned, at least in part because he had missed significant moments in his daughter's life and wanted to spend more time with her. Max Schireson wrote in August that he stepped down from his post as CEO of tech company MongoDB to enjoy life with his family.
Stress at the workplace can lead to distraction, anxiety, and a host of physical symptoms including headaches, frequent colds, and teeth-grinding.