Successful Vacationing

Even though I started out my Christmas break with a plague that literally stopped me in my tracks–I had to delay my trip by one day–this vacation was awesome for a reason that seems so stupid, it’s almost difficult to say.

I actually vacationed.

It seems so simple, but historically I’ve had a hard time actually vacationing unless forced to (i.e. I had no internet access or I didn’t bring my laptop). If I have my laptop with me, which I usually do, I’ll often default to tinkering with work stuff in my free time, which effectively negates any attempted vacationing. Pointless, right?

A number of things helped in this matter. First, I separated my work laptops, and home laptops ¹. I used to use my work laptop for everything, and having the physical separation is definitely key in successfully leaving work at work. This way I’m not taking my work laptop on personal trips, and I’m in no way tempted to start working on work when I’m supposed to be relaxing. Bad for work, good for life.

And even with work miles away, and lots of other code close by waiting to be tinkered with, I didn’t code anything. No personal projects, no nothing. I took a complete mental vacation, as evidenced by the following list of things I watched over break: