blog: time off

content/blog/2024-07-25-on-the-importance-of-time-off/index.md

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+---
+title: On the importance of time off
+description: Why work related mentions on my personal accounts annoy me
+date: 2024-07-25
+cover:
+  image: cover.jpg
+  alt: A seal resting on its back on a river bank
+  relative: true
+tags: 
+- health
+---
+
+I'm on day 4 of my desperately needed summer vacation[^1], and twice already I got pinged on my personal social media accounts about OctoPrint related stuff. This happens on every vacation that I take, and during shorter breaks like weekends or just after hours as well, so much so that I've pinned a post about it to my Mastodon account: 
+
+{{< toot "https://chaos.social/@foosel/109245619011351909" >}}
+
+Contrary to what many people seem to think 😉 I indeed have a life beyond OctoPrint, and actually a lot of stuff I'm interested in beyond 3d printing (shocking, I know!). Yet a lot of people out there think that as an Open Source maintainer I'm available for anything concerning my project(s) 24/7. Even if OctoPrint wasn't the *incredibly* stressful and intense, albeit amazing job it is, this wouldn't be the case for me. 
+
+**Even if we love what we do, we need rest.** Our brains need a chance to get out of the usual daily routine and we need to get some dopamine boosts from a change of rhythm. Stuff that got learned, stuff that caused harm, stuff that needed a lot of thinking, all of that needs time to get processed. That's why we (shouldn't) work the whole day, that's why we (should) have weekends, and that's why we also (should) have vacations where we do something else than what we do day to day for a living. 
+
+What I learned from several close calls with full blown burn-out over the past ~12 years of maintaining OctoPrint is that taking regular restful breaks is probably one of the most important things, maybe even **the** most important thing, I can do for the long term health of both myself and my projects. That's why not getting dragged back into work in general and OctoPrint specifically during my off times is a boundary that I will always defend hard[^2].
+
+And that's what I can only recommend to anyone - maintainer or not. You have a right to restful breaks. And you cannot be at the peak of your performance if you are close to or already burnt out. Stand up for your time off! Fuck hustle culture!
+
+[^1]: It's disturbing how much energy this whole [stats manipulation](https://octoprint.org/blog/2024/06/28/stats-manipulation/) crap sucked - [twice](https://octoprint.org/blog/2024/07/04/more-stats-manipulation/)!
+[^2]: And let's face it, no one else will.