[VonBlue]

“I make lifestyle choices that do not involve a screen outside of work hours.” This is my line for the past 13 years to apologetically explain why I do not write code in my personal time. Why do people still rely on this as an indicator of passion, or dedication, or competence?

It is also my line to explain why I do not have work Slack or work email on my phone.

Even with all these safeguards in place, I still managed to have a crazy burnout from a project. Migraines and hypertension that eventually landed me in the ER and necessitated a month away from work to recover. This taught me that working a normal 40-45 hour week is not enough. Active self-care is necessary outside of those hours.

Tl;dr: Working less is not enough. What we do when we don’t work also matters.