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How Embracing Downtime Can Make You a Better Coder and Happier Human
The Weekend Revelation: Work Isn’t Everything
It hit me one Friday evening, right around 11 PM. I was at my desk, again, hunched over lines of code that seemed to blend together. I had one of those moments where you just pause, stare at the screen, and wonder… “Why am I doing this?”
As software developers, we love what we do. But sometimes, that love affair with code can mean we’re giving up chunks of our weekends, chasing deadlines, or simply feeding the drive to improve. I realized I’d forgotten what a real weekend felt like — one without a laptop, without debugging in my head while pretending to listen to a friend.
Rediscovering What Weekends Are Made For
That Friday night, I made a promise to myself: weekends were about to change. No, I didn’t plan a grand getaway or a transformation into a rock climber. I just wanted two simple things: rest and connection. Because let’s be real, when was the last time you took a weekend that wasn’t about catching up on “just a little bit” of work?
The first weekend was… strange. I tried things I hadn’t done in a while — slept in, had coffee without…
