81–90 of 115 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Milk? Why's that?
In the US and Canada, milk is often fortified with Vitamin D. Not sure what it's like in the rest of the world.
Retire early and often is my motto. I've now been through my third (fourth?) sabbatical. My advice: keep yourself busy but allow for spontaneity, you don't have to pack it all into one sabbatical, and multitask in your actions (i.e. you can choose activities and locations that fulfill several fun things you've been meaning to try). Realize that it's not a picnic and even if you sit at home it's going to be tough ; yo…
How did you make money? What tips do you have for people who are about to do this? How did you deal with the loneliness of solo travel? Or is this just in my head?
but then that's good even when not on sabbatical
I have read the great suggestions written so far - exercise, travel, etc. Great, I hope something hits the mark. I have two things to suggest. I hope they help. If I'm being blunt, I apologise. 1. Simplify your thinking. If you have a habit of overly abstract thought, you can make problems more complicated than they need to be. You could say it's a bit like spiritual java programming. For instance, aims such as "beco…
That said, I did give a very long and audible sigh when reading your post. It feels like a cop out, but perhaps one day I'll have to accept my own mediocrity.
I'd refer you to a book which really helped me out - "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman, which will teach you a better way to interpret the events that happen to you, and a quote from Gabriel Garcia Marquez - "What matters in life is not what happens to you, but what you remember and how you remember it."
- On day one I was a new person. I suddenly had 8 work hours of extra energy. No need to set aside time for relaxing (it'll quickly get boring).
- Work on a farm. Getting up early, and really sweating for your food is fantastic. There are general applications forms here: http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/work/shortterm/far...
- Travel. Everyone else has already said it, and they say it for a reason. I pretty sure your problems won't follow you. Personally, I prefer travelling with couchsurfing.com or airbnb.com. You meet great people there.
- I travelled to friends around the world. Some of the greatest moments were actually pair-programming with those who wanted to. It extremely fun and social. None of the projects were ever completed, and it doesn't matter. :)
If you ever travel to Norway, let me know, so I can show you around.
Is it your own beliefs and attitudes about work? If so, changing jobs won't help. Are your work responsibilities so large that you don't have time or mental energy for other things in your life? If so, changing jobs would help. Is your diet messing with your brain chemistry? If so, changes in your diet would help. If the causes of your burnout are in the circumstances of your job, then the sabbatical will only help temporarily. Coming back to the job will reintroduce the causes and you'll see the effects of burnout again.
If you are able to diagnose the causes well, sometimes only small changes are needed to ameliorate the problem. If you don't diagnose well, you may end up making a large change without much positive effect.
For the past two years I've been in the habit of tracking my mood every half-day along with a short sentence or two of what was going on. This process has been great in getting me in touch with what tends to stress me out or make me happy. I'd recommend starting a habit like this.
Relax. After a month you'll be in a much better place to evaluate. You should focus solely in that month on doing little things you've been meaning to do. eg. Spending more time with friends / family. Going to see that exhibit you've been meaning to. Watching a movie you just haven't had time for. I took time and founded a startup but it wasn't until a week ago (9 months from the start that I really found the right n…