Ask HN: Are mini breaks worth it?

> Society looks down on people who take breaks, which seems crazy.

If this is your perception, I would recommend changing the the things you let influence you. What you claim is the opinion of society is just that slice of society you're paying attention to...and it sounds like its not a healthy influence on you.

Your twenties and early thirties are the greatest years of your life where you're at the peak of your game. Don't waste it all working insane hours. I'd cutback to 40 hours and take all my vacation during those years if I knew what I now know. Fortunately I did take plenty of time off in my thirties to travel. Companies don't like it in the USA when you do this but you bursting a gut make no difference in the long run. Look after number one as nobody is more important than yourself. Nobody.

Yeah. What's the purpose of life if you just work and save money?

I wouldn't say 6 months is a "mini" break. But at $600k? Spend more of your time on the things you actually enjoy doing.

Sure, I think so. I’m a few years older and I’m tapping into my 120k liquid to move from where I live (small city no tech, boring) to San Francisco. I’m 31 and like you said life is short. I want to meet friends in tech, be around people who can inspire me, and honestly just meet some good friends. I feel like I spent my 20s trying to find something I am good at and like, and stumbled into tech as a self taught engineer six years ago.

I’m not taking a break “break” but taking a couple months slow to figure out my new environment and work on myself a bit.

I wish you all the best, do something you’ve always wanted to do. Don’t pay attention to other people and what they think, I can tell you that I spent too much time doing that. You seem to be doing great for yourself, so go for it!

:)

Yes, they are. Psychologically, physically, intellectually, socially. And it doesn't matter what age you are.

Just be sure that you are actually taking a break and not, as someone once put it, merely jumping back on to the productivity treadmill by replacing one type of work for another. That's not to say you should be spending all of your time watching streaming video, but don't devote all of your time to study or side projects. Add a lot of relaxation to the mix – perhaps a 75/25 split of relaxation and other stuff? Or maybe more.

What makes you think society looks down on breaks?

If I had 600k I would open my own bakery haha!

A mini-break is ok. That's what vacations are for. If you're looking for longer term, though, you need to have a plan. Otherwise, it's just a band-aid on a broken bone.

$600k is a lot in some parts of the country. It's very little in others. It's enough to finance a startup in some, and enough to retire in others.

I do the stuff that pays the bills for $$$. I do the stuff that I enjoy for fun, and doing it that way makes me remember to stop working and have fun.

Take a vacation, to be sure. But plan ahead if you are aiming at something bigger.

Yes, it's worth it, for multiple reasons.

There's already lots of good advice here. Here's a variant idea:

Take a two week vacation from employment very soon. Spend the first week doing nearly nothing aside from your version of recreation. Spend the second week thinking about whether your current pattern really brings you fulfillment, and along with that, make the plan for your mini-break (resignation plan, negotiate for unpaid time off, etc).

>Society looks down on people who take breaks, which seems crazy.

Is that society as a whole, the people in the groups in which you circulate, or is it that you've been influenced (whether you meant to or not) by the warped ethos of hustle culture or the Always Be Grinding mindset? There's more to life than work, even in your 20s and 30s.

I just took 6 months off and recently found a contract for 3 days/week. It wasn’t that hard for me. Companies didn’t blink an eye when I mentioned a break due to burnout. I’m a 30yo software engineer in the US. I think I do have more risk tolerance than most, though.

Take the 6 months off! Especially if you feel this has risen to the level of conscious thought. And you have a lot of money. You can problem go nomadic and spend $5k or less living for 6 months, probably less than your investments will go up in value anyway.