Breaks, for sure, especially focusing differently with the eyes. So reading of any kind, even if entertaining, doesn't do it for me. Getting up and walking around, doing something with one of my wine projects (I'm a homebrewer and always have bottles in various stages of the process), gardening -- something with my body!

Too much time on the computer leads to what I call "left brain freeze." Then come the headaches. If I don't take a break every hour or so, it will get to me by the end of the day. That's especially hard when I'm in the middle of something.

Yee-ha. Finally lined up that holiday. Got a feeling my boss will be chasing me to the airport. I've also got a feeling my mobile phone is going to mysteriously switch off for the duration.

So I finally got that break... sort of.

I had lined up three weeks off. One week in Queensland and two weeks bumming around the house catching up on some gardening and spring cleaning.

When it came down to actually getting the time off my boss decides there's too many 'urgent' jobs. His first idea is to postpone the holiday entirely. When I rejected this idea he say's what if my wife and kids go to Queensland without me (on our first family holiday)? Now this suggestion just stunned me and I was in a bit of a daze for the rest of the conversation. We finally settled on me working through the weekend prior to departure on the monday (leaving my wife to do all the packing and preparation for taking two small kids interstate) and canceling the last two weeks of home time.

I gotta get a new job.

Yeah, new job, sounds like the best idea. How on earth does someone like that retain employee's anyway? Your first post to this thread was...a year ago? I mean, honestly, no real vacation for a year and then you are left with less than a week? Hopefully they are paying you well...

Surely you jest? You mean you don’t have 4 weeks paid vacation from Year One?! :eek:

Correct that; here I believe it is unpaid in the first year, but you have a right to your 4 weeks off. It’s 4 paid weeks from year 2.

You might note that he has two children and has never been on a family vacation, logically we can infer that it's been 'a while' at least since he last had a vacation.

And yes, if how he describes his work environment is accurate, I would expect no less than 2 weeks per year.

Well I'm 'entitled' to four weeks paid vacation per year but there's never a break in the work for me to take them. They keep promising to hire someone else to share the load but so far it's just me. The last time off I had was when my nearly two year old was born and before that was when my four year old was born and I don't know that you can call caring for new-borns a holiday.

Is the company foundering or something? Maybe you should try to push them to hire, maybe even offer to help with the process?

Probably not what you want to hear but nutrition helps a lot. I take 1000mg vit C a day, a strong multivitamin/multimineral pil, Omega 3 and vit E, and a teaspoon a day of Lecithin. I really believe it boosts my Brain's energy levels. I have a very stressful job (my own business, need I say more) and since I eat better and take supplements my brain can take approx. 20% more load.

Vacation is nice too, it just takes so long to get back into work afterwards.

Do something analog. Go outside and plant something, or build something out of wood. Sometimes just cleaning out a room and organizing it helps. 6502 had a great answer, just go outside and drive. Stay at a B&B and just retrain your body how to just do nothing and relax and enjoy.

Since I live near LA, I like to drive to my favorite haunts to eat like Phillipe's and get an original beef dip sandwich, then Grommen's Chinese theater for a good movie. Just get a way for a while.

When the weather's good I bike to and from school, which is about two hours a day. The time would otherwise been wasted in a bus. Not only does it get my mind off work, the exercise wakes me up in the morning and makes life feel more real.

When asked the other week at work about a holiday, I thought back and realised that my last real, time away with the whole family, was 2002!

We went to Orlando for Disney and Universal Studio. My older boy was 14 and the younger was 11. We had a blast.

Now, I'm looking forward to when just my wife and I can get away together.

A couple more years and then the younger boy will be out of high school. Meanwhile, it's football/soccer, day in, day out, regular seasons, tournaments. My son and I'll be in Phoenix this coming weekend. Sort of a holiday, que no? :)

well, if you didn't have a wife, I'd suggest you get a girlfriend. you could still try that, I suppose... ;)

seriously, though, meditation works for me like a charm. if you can manage 20 minutes a day, a few days a week, you'll find it really revitalizes your brain.

I've always wondered how folks find the time to have affairs. Seems logistically difficult. And affairs probably add more stress than they relieve. :eek:

Generally speaking, rationality is not the motivating factor behind an affair.

there are affairs, and affairs, and affairs... if you're actively cheating on a spouse just for the hell of it, then you have to put a lot of time and effort into being sneaky and secret; that's draining, but for the people (loosely speaking) who are into that sort of thing it's a kind of sport, so it's invigorating at the same time. if you have a marriage on the rocks it's more emotionally draining than anything, but then a marriage on the rocks is emotionally draining regardless. you're only really in trouble if you happen to be in love with two people at the same time - that takes its toll... :o

Pretty interesting. These scenarios have the ring of authenticity. I can picture what you're describing. I'm glad I have photography and martial art training as my outside interests. This stuff sounds way too complicated.

Although I believe I may have just acquired a new mistress...
...a Canon 40D.

:D