Mental health break from work anyone?

[chivasregal]

I’m taking a 1 or 2 month mental health break from work. Long story short, I burned out severely that now I’m dealing with the consequences. Been working as a professional engineer for 11 years now (6 of those as a PE) and this is the first time this happens.

Besides therapy and self-care, I’m wondering what else to do during this time. Has anyone taken a month-long leave for something besides paternity leave?

[OsPerez1996]

...I’m wondering what else to do during this time...

Are you in your greatest physical state?

Are you in your greatest mental state?

Are you living your greatest; truthful expression of your life on earth?

・

What would you love to do OP?

Ready to die?

・
・

Plenty to do brother!

I'm sure you know many things that you should be doing (+ that which you should stop doing) to lead a greater existence.

Blessings OP.

[RainingBlood]

^wtf

[TCmaxxing]

Go on whoremaxxing travel

[LaCosaNostra90]

what kind of engineer?

[Godfrd824]

Work is supposed to get easier the longer you're at it. I think you're doing something wrong OP.

[Kaliconic]

Exercise. Get out in the sun. Go out into nature. Talk to friends if you have any.

[r32gojirra]

I took a 3 month break from work once, almost 2 decades ago

Backstory was in Australia there are certain things you can’t do as a lawyer if you want to retain your practising certificate (ie like getting disbarred the US I think). Basically dishonesty, even if the work you are doing is not actually legal work.

Told my boss where I draw the line and that I wouldn’t be doing any of those things, and then told him what I thought of him personally, and went on 3 months leave

By the time I got back he and all his cronies had “retired” lol

[WiseOldApe]

I took a 3 month break from work once, almost 2 decades ago

Backstory was in Australia there are certain things you can’t do as a lawyer if you want to retain your practising certificate (ie like getting disbarred the US I think). Basically dishonesty, even if the work you are doing is not actually legal work.

Told my boss where I draw the line and that I wouldn’t be doing any of those things, and then told him what I thought of him personally, and went on 3 months leave

By the time I got back he and all his cronies had “retired” lol

So you're a 'moral person', am I right?

[PShift5]

Yea 11 years you deserve a break

[FallOutBrah]

damn how does one get this srs? do you have to get a doctors approval or some ****? im feeling burned out as well. i can afford it but i still need the job after im done.

[Luc1fer]

Work is supposed to get easier the longer you're at it. I think you're doing something wrong OP.

That is not true if you're moving up levels and/or also have more personal responsibilities.

[r32gojirra]

So you're a 'moral person', am I right?

No I just didn’t want to risk losing my practising certificate

[Godfrd824]

That is not true if you're moving up levels and/or also have more personal responsibilities.

It is true. As you move up you get more discretion regarding how you do your work and you also get underlings/assistants, etc.

[GuineaDago585]

How are people even allowed to take long breaks like this from work? My company only gives 120 hours of PTO per year and it’s accrued monthly so nobody is allowed to take weeks off at a time unless they’ve been working there for years. Sick days count against your PTO too. There’s no opportunity for leave unless you quit. Every job I’ve ever had has been similar. Dafuq are you people doing?

[eod8989]

How are people even allowed to take long breaks like this from work? My company only gives 120 hours of PTO per year and it’s accrued monthly so nobody is allowed to take weeks off at a time unless they’ve been working there for years. Sick days count against your PTO too. There’s no opportunity for leave unless you quit. Every job I’ve ever had has been similar. Dafuq are you people doing?

Everyone is ceo and makes their own hours now legit just go out during the day and you'll see most people don't work normal jobs anymore

[GuineaDago585]

Everyone is ceo and makes their own hours now legit just go out during the day and you'll see most people don't work normal jobs anymore

Right bro it makes no sense. Nobody I personally know lives like this, but they’re obviously out there. Fkin weird. I gotta figure out how it’s done srs.

[eod8989]

Right bro it makes no sense. Nobody I personally know lives like this, but they’re obviously out there. Fkin weird.

Yep everyone I know has a real job they have to wagelsave at but if I talk to someone new or look online they are all ceo or work from home and can take off whenever they want. Also rich too but I don't get how in this economy when 50k barely pays bills.

[Titansfan08]

[Evolutionary1]

Exercise. Get out in the sun. Go out into nature. Talk to friends if you have any.

Sleep as much as you can

[jafomofo]

if i had 2 months off, i would pack up the car and drive across the country.

[XcelerateNYC]

OP is a weak minded soyboy and also a liberal.

Coincidence? I think not.

[bsmit107]

I've been going pretty hard in my current position for about 6 years and recently I've noticed I'm getting to the point of I just don't give AF anymore. Several reasons to this though....I wouldn't say I'm getting burnt out, I'm just getting tired of the way this company is operating.....and to be honest they pay too much for me to just leave and I WFH, so I've been dealing with this for a lot longer than I would with any other company in a different situation.

-Company is growing like a weed. Doubled in size (revenue and active projects) in the last 2 years and projected to grow by another 35-40% this year.
-Not hiring new people, just dumping more work on who is here currently.
-Still trying to operate like a "mom & pop" when we're doing $490M revenue a year.....when we were doing about $30m 5 years ago.
-Multiple people have quit in the last 2 months and they aren't replacing them.
-Trying to make changes in procedures and upper management is not in agreement about several things, causing confusion and aggravation.
-Just spreading people so thin, everybody just ends up talking chit about the company every time we get together.

Just a bunch of chit that the company should be doing and they aren't, spreading people too thin, expecting to continue operating like they did 3-4 years ago and just kind of being dumb about the future.

I keep my mental health in check by having projects and hobbies for my spare time and realizing that my job is just that.....a job. Ill do what I can and when that's not good enough, Ill move on and figure it out from there.

I lift 2x a week, do cardio 2x a week, make sure I get good social time in with friends and family on the weekends. I make sure I eat well and have reallllly cut back on drinking. I've recently been able to finally realize a life long dream of being a "weekend warrior" at the racetrack and autocross course with a purpose built car and that's my new happy place (outside of family). When I'm in that car and on track, nothing else matters.

Overall I've shifted my priorities and my mindset about work since having a kid too. I used to be the type that put work 1st, staying late, working weekends, answering calls at any hour and I've stopped all of that. There really has to be a separation between work and personal life. Im at a point in my career that I've reached a level that I am happy with and Im just going to be content for a while and focus on the important things and not let work stress me out or take over my life.

[Evolutionary1]

I've been going pretty hard in my current position for about 6 years and recently I've noticed I'm getting to the point of I just don't give AF anymore. Several reasons to this though....I wouldn't say I'm getting burnt out, I'm just getting tired of the way this company is operating.....and to be honest they pay too much for me to just leave and I WFH, so I've been dealing with this for a lot longer than I would with any other company in a different situation.

-Company is growing like a weed. Doubled in size (revenue and active projects) in the last 2 years and projected to grow by another 35-40% this year.
-Not hiring new people, just dumping more work on who is here currently.
-Still trying to operate like a "mom & pop" when we're doing $490M revenue a year.....when we were doing about $30m 5 years ago.
-Multiple people have quit in the last 2 months and they aren't replacing them.
-Trying to make changes in procedures and upper management is not in agreement about several things, causing confusion and aggravation.
-Just spreading people so thin, everybody just ends up talking chit about the company every time we get together.

Just a bunch of chit that the company should be doing and they aren't, spreading people too thin, expecting to continue operating like they did 3-4 years ago and just kind of being dumb about the future.

I keep my mental health in check by having projects and hobbies for my spare time and realizing that my job is just that.....a job. Ill do what I can and when that's not good enough, Ill move on and figure it out from there.

I lift 2x a week, do cardio 2x a week, make sure I get good social time in with friends and family on the weekends. I make sure I eat well and have reallllly cut back on drinking. I've recently been able to finally realize a life long dream of being a "weekend warrior" at the racetrack and autocross course with a purpose built car and that's my new happy place (outside of family). When I'm in that car and on track, nothing else matters.

Overall I've shifted my priorities and my mindset about work since having a kid too. I used to be the type that put work 1st, staying late, working weekends, answering calls at any hour and I've stopped all of that. There really has to be a separation between work and personal life. Im at a point in my career that I've reached a level that I am happy with and Im just going to be content for a while and focus on the important things and not let work stress me out or take over my life.

had a similar experience recently but they also didn't pay jack either

[8pieces]

Assuming you have a decent amount of money saved being an engineer for 11 years. Take a month long vacation somewhere tropical.

[Godfrd824]

If you straight up quit at some point OP, a tip to consider is converting 401K to Roth IRA. If you don’t have income in a given year, the conversion will count as income and be taxed at the lowest brackets.



The DEI hire assuming everyone else has as little work to do as he does, JFL.

It isn't my fault that you're a loser who has no value and as such can't name your price. I'm not even gonna neg you. Life has negged you enough.

[Destor]

I’ve taken two months off this year, my first real break of any length in a decade as well — just getting ready to hit out again but didn’t really do anything special besides catching up with stuff around the house, prepping for a baby, and relaxing.

[r32gojirra]

Yep everyone I know has a real job they have to wagelsave at but if I talk to someone new or look online they are all ceo or work from home and can take off whenever they want. Also rich too but I don't get how in this economy when 50k barely pays bills.

Yeah it’s almost as if people tend to congregate around other people at the same socioeconomic level

And live in the same neighborhoods, attend the same level of universities… crazy.

[r32gojirra]

How are people even allowed to take long breaks like this from work? My company only gives 120 hours of PTO per year and it’s accrued monthly so nobody is allowed to take weeks off at a time unless they’ve been working there for years. Sick days count against your PTO too. There’s no opportunity for leave unless you quit. Every job I’ve ever had has been similar. Dafuq are you people doing?

Working in economies with strong labour unions most likely

[JackyChin]

About a year ago I went through severe burnout, the type where you wake up multiple times at night with 120+ bpm heart rate and have brain fog and moods swings all throughout the day.

90% of my burnout problems were solved by 3 things:

setting strict boundaries and clocking out at my assigned time (doesn't mean being lazy, but refusing to overwork myself for other people's emergencies they caused through poor planning or improper budgeting)

surrounding myself with people who cared about me

and finding interesting work

I also visited a doc who did blood tests to make sure there wasn't anything more serious going on. I now take a vitamin D and magnesium glycinate supplement (no idea if this actually helps).

It took about 9 months to recover 95%.