[Glench]

I've been privileged enough to take several extended times off between things and they've always been very important and meaningful for me. I wrote about one period like this when I switched from a technology to a psychotherapy career: http://glench.com/WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist/

I think having the time and space to decompress, heal, and explore is really important and our culture doesn't really appreciate that fully. Whenever I told people I was taking time off they'd always say "oh, are you going to travel? what are you going to do?" and I always had to tell them — no, I didn't have a plan but I knew it was what I needed.

In terms of advice I'd say you should expect a period of at least a few weeks of decompression — laying around, watching TV, socializing with friends, not doing much of anything. This is something that they talk about in the homeschooling/unschooling communities after a child leaves school — it seems to take a bit of doing "nothing" to shake off some of the conditioning of schooling, and I've found the same to be true for jobs and careers and other transitions.

After that initial decompression, I'd say that many people struggle structuring their time when not in a setting that structures their time for them. This makes a lot of sense since most people have almost never had unstructured time. So I'd start trying to find ways to structure your time.

Good luck!