You Need a Break. But From What, Exactly?
A taxonomy of tiredness and what to do about it.
The feeling of needing a break can be visceral and unmistakable. Progress grinds to a halt, you’re physically uncomfortable, and frustration is rising.
At some point, even the most stubborn must admit there’s no more blood to be pulled from this stone and step away from their task.
But now what?
Ideally, we’d do something wholesome and restorative.
When I’m in this state, I can tell I’ve overdone something, but it’s not immediately clear what. Whatever it is, I need a break from it.
Over time, I’ve become a connoisseur of tiredness. I started to notice subtle flavor differences among the types, and what I’ve overdone to suffer from them.
Aside from the well-known ones (overexerting physically or mentally, holding one position for too long, eye strain, and Zoom fatigue) here are the most common types observed:
Learning or consuming information
This is what happens when I’ve been moving seamlessly from media to media all day. Reading things for work, reading emails, listening to podcasts, reading blogs and the news, watching videos — some of it useful, some of it fluff…
