Ask HN: How Do You Relax? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Relax?

#31

Post by gaws » Tue, Apr 07, 2026, 10:33 PM UTC

sgbeal wrote: post #2

- Programming and/or documenting personal projects - Tabletop games, though probably 90% of this means either tinkering with games (as opposed to playing them, e.g. creating inserts or new pieces for them) and/or hanging out on BoardGameGeek dot com. - Reading, mostly anthologies of fiction from Wildside Press which collect many works from the early/mid 20th century, purchasable DRM-free for $1-2 each (for anywhere f…

> hanging out on BoardGameGeek dot com

What does this entail?

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Relax?

#32

Post by gnz11 » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 1:06 PM UTC

Force yourself to take time off work. You are human after all. Don’t feel guilty about sitting and doing nothing. Relaxation takes some time to set in, tell yourself you are just out of practice. The constantly online/being available culture we have isn’t sustainable.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Relax?

#33

Post by scaredreally » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 2:59 PM UTC

KaiLetov wrote: post #21

KaiLetov wrote: post #20

I play airsfot every Sunday it's the perfect reset. Equal parts sport, adrenaline, and pain from getting hit by those little plastic balls. But honestly, there's so much laughter that you forget the bruises. Highly recommend if you've never tried it.

Also, surfing. Nothing clears your head quite like getting tossed around by the ocean.

This is true. I was in the ocean this past weekend for the first time in almost a year and though the water was cold, the 20 minutes or so I was in there felt like an eternity and left me feeling much better.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Relax?

#34

Post by mathabito » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 6:32 PM UTC

Hobbies basically. Something that requires focus but that's completely different from what you do at your job. I've worked in front of screens for most of my working life and a few years ago I wanted to try something manual. I ended up learning how to make shoes! Never in a million years would a younger version of me see himself learning to make shoes, but that's what I did. Eventhough it was challenging, it was oddly relaxing to be doing something away from screens and spreadsheets. Sometimes you just need a little change of environment.