I've written before about the perceived passage of time, and how there is actual science that suggests routine, as you get older, makes time pass faster. Deviating from routine does the opposite. I think this may play into feelings of burnout, too.
Last year, we had that trip to Europe, and it was two weeks. Obviously visiting a half-dozen countries that you've never been to before is about as non-routine as it gets. And doing so in July, sort of opposite of the December holidays, makes for a well staggered change of routine. This year hasn't had any equivalent travel or routine breaks. 2024 feels like it's happening really fast. And the "grind" I think is contributing to an increasing feeling of burnout.
The weird thing is that I typically associated burnout with work that I wasn't crazy about, but that isn't the case right now. I'm leading a team that's totally killing it (without killing themselves), and I'm wielding some amount of influence, to various degrees of success, beyond my immediate sphere. Work is good. But I'm still kind of tired, like I need to get away from it for awhile.
We booked an "emergency cruise" coming up soon, which is the usual long weekend variety where we only have to take Simon out for one full day. These definitely help, because even though there is some flavor of routine to them, they're infrequent enough that they feel like positive disruptions. Again, it's not adventure travel, it's turn-your-brain-off travel where people are there to take care of you. I place a lot of value in that.
Next year, I'd like to do another two-week trip, and we're starting to talk about what that looks like. A long cruise would definitely make it easier with Simon, but we could in theory do a long run in one or two countries if we can map out the feeding our teenager angle. I'm excited about that. We sure loved London and Copenhagen, and while we haven't been to Oslo, it's on the table too.
For now, I have to figure out what to do this year. I just hate taking time off during the school year, because it never feels quite like a vacation. I have the advantage of having "unlimited" PTO, but in practice, that means I can take about five weeks without my job performance hurting.
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