The more "nothing" you do, the faster you'll want to get back in the game, and the more likely you are to return before you've actually gotten better.
I left a really abusive job a few years ago, and was fortunate enough to be able to do nothing but smoke weed and play xbox and "recover", which I did for about 3 months.
I think that:
1) I didn't do the things that I needed to do in terms of health (recovery is not wildcard leisure. it's a form of work)
2) Those activities got old fast and cause me to be eager to reenter the workforce when, in retrospect, I had merely forgotten about my problems, rather than solving them.
Overexerting your mind/psyche requires mental therapy the same way overexerting your leg requires physical therapy. It's counterintuitive that one should respond to too much work with a new kind of work, but I believe that's the case.
FWIW I think Jordan Peterson has some strong advice here around routine and the acquisition of meaning, but that's perhaps not everyone's brand.
I left a job where I was totally burned out in June. I traveled the country from June - September. After I got back, I tried working on my personal projects full time and quickly learned I was still burned out. Looking for a job made the same point even clearer.
I'm currently working as seasonal help at UPS. I don't need the money, but it's really nice to have a job where I have tangible successes and any effort I put into it is paid back out immediately.
I'm absolutely wiped when I get home, but since I've started that job I've found that it's much easier to work on my personal projects. I think I just needed something else to concentrate on, and I needed some obvious successes in my life.
Burnout could be characterised as prolonged exposure to stress in work-related environments. It usually takes years, months in therapy, it very often causes career change. Many people never get out of it, especially not without support.
Everyone has periods when they feel a bit off, or a bit under the weather. What you describe is definitely not burnout in the medical sense of term.
You have to be careful because depression and burnout seem to be best buddies. You need to deal with this sooner rather than later.
For me the answer was quite simple - to just work less - a lot less. I contract and take lots of time off between contracts. I take long walks every day - sometimes with a weight vest, sometimes without. I meditate (nothing fancy). I eat light. I occasionally row. It's important to get away from the computer, and get outside and get some fresh air. In my spare time I do my hobbies: Python coding, work on my website, photography, read, travel, stroke my cat, relax with my partner. I have a side project to watch every Star Trek movie/episode ever made! {grin}
I realized in the end I had to re-prioritize my life away from work and money. It's worked out far better than I could have hoped for. YMMV. If you want to discuss more feel free to contact me via my website (see my profile here for details). All the best.
Keep in touch with your audience and give them clear signal that this is your hobby project and you value their input before they leave any rating etc. Side-project which doesn't make you happy sucks. You may be afraid of success or failure, but avoiding validation with users and constantly imagining what they might need more will make your burnout worse. I would hide non functional features and release now! Then do small update releases often - this boosts brain's instant gratification nicely.
Quoting Tony Robbins: "The reason you're suffering is you're focused on yourself."
It's a powerful enough quote that I'll probably print it and put it in my office.
Don't think about the work. Don't think about the pay, the holidays, the things you will buy, the fame you'll get.
Instead of focusing on the work, think what you do with it. Think of making them very happy. It could be a client or customer. It could be your boss.
Instead of focusing on the money, think of what you can do to make people happy. It could be bringing your significant other on a vacation somewhere. It could be buying your daughter a new toy or bringing them to the zoo.
You can also try giving back - if you're a techie, you can teach people to code. Or answer questions on Stack Overflow. Write articles and blogs. Make videos on Udemy. Don't focus on making money from it but on passing down your experience.
I noticed in “Daily Rituals”, a book about the day to day lives of artists, none of them really take breaks. 30,40,50 years go by, and they just find more ways to creatively renew themselves. I’m sorry I can’t think of any examples here but if you’re reading this you should buy a copy.
From this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15505304 > "Now things have got better. I surrounded myself with smart people, took some time off (the majority I was unable to find gainful work), and tried to find inspiration. I took some risks, had a lot of adventures, and am much more satisfied and happy. Only problem now is that software development tends to detract from all those things and it's tough to reconcile."
Also went back to school for this semester because as a Canadian I can't hypothetically get a work visa anywhere else without a degree and I wouldn't be doing anything more productive with my time."
From this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14570003 > "If there's one thing I've learned so far in my experience (at 25) it's that momentum is important. It's difficult and depressing to maintain momentum in interviewing if you get no feedback, can't improve, don't see success, and waste vast amounts of time. It's very difficult to maintain momentum in software in general if you've spent so long outside of it interviewing that you haven't worked on anything of value in months. The junior pos will allow to keep some level of momentum and at the very least that will keep.you paid and moving forward."
And this question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14390426
Many of the responses directly to me are very valuable, as are adjacent comments amongst those threads. I sincerely appreciate their time and hope someone finds this comment useful.
Relaxing and read a book in the evening.
Try getting more sleep for a week or two to recharge.
Find/Restart a hobby, guitar, video games.
Try something new, hiking, camping, backpacking are good activities to get you to unplug.
