I am a recovering work-a-holic. In my first job I worked myself to the ground. At one point I was unable to sleep and led a very unhealthy life. This contributed to me hitting the wall. Since then I have been more conscious about how I manage my time and how to handle pressure. However, I love what I do and the borders between work and hobbies are very blurred. I realize that I will never loose the stuff that drove me into being burnt out at an early age. It’s always there and it erupts at different times.

Dealing with it

One way I deal with it is to go into an apathetic state where I don’t do much. I work, come home and sleep. This is to help dampen the fire which wants me to take actions on all of the ideas in my head. It is not a very productive or social way of dealing with this, so minimizing these periods are important. What works so much better is to get a different perspective on things by exercising, taking a walk, visiting friends and playing with the kids. It could be reading books about politics, struggles or biographies. Getting a different input and perspective helps divert my minds attention to other things than work. Going to a concert or just going out to hang with people who are in totally different professions. Getting a bit of variety into my life always helps me put my mind off The Next Thing. It helps cool that fire that constantly tells my brain to occupy itself with work or work related things.

Figure it out

What works for you is probably something else. However I think most workaholics never really recover, because it is something inside us that just makes us have this behavior. Realizing this is important as it makes you more aware and it will help you cope with this much better.