# Time Off

By Randall Degges · November 25, 2012 · https://rdegges.com/2012/time-off/

> I rarely go a day without coding, so over Thanksgiving I stayed off the computer for four days. By day three my brain was full of new ideas again.

![Turkey Sketch][]


This year for Thanksgiving, I did something I don't normally do: I took some
time away from the computer.

Since both my work and hobby involve programming, it is rare that a day passes
for me in which I don't do at least a little bit of coding.  If I had to guess,
I'd say that for the better part of the last 5 years I've gone at most a dozen
days without programming overall.

Since I've been putting in a lot of effort lately working on my various
projects, I decided that this year I'd actually remove myself from the computer
as much as possible around the holidays so I could spend more time with my
family, and attempt to loosen up a bit.

From Wednesday through Saturday night, I didn't touch a computer (with a single
exception, to correct an important issue).  While this may sound hilariously
simple: I feel great!

The first day was pretty hard to make it through--I had no idea what to do with
myself.  The second day was much easier--I accepted that I wasn't going to be
doing any coding, and just went with the flow.  Had a lot of fun with my
family, ate a lot of turkey, and most of all, got to really relax for the first
time in a while.

On the third day, my brain kicked into creative mode, and since then I've had a
ton of great ideas (for work, personal projects, and personal development
things) which I'm excited to implement over the coming months.

Although it is common knowledge, I now see exactly how effective taking a break
can be.  I'll definitely be doing this more frequently.


[Turkey Sketch]: turkey-sketch.png "Turkey Sketch"