10 years ago, I went through an intense period of burn-out after 2 consecutive death marches at work. Just the thought of work gave me stomach cramps. I told m

10 years ago, I went through an intense period of burn-out after 2 consecutive death marches at work. Just the thought of work gave me stomach cramps. I told my manager at the time that for the foreseeable future, I'd be coming in at 10:30am and go home at 4 or 5pm and to give me an assignment that was isolated (as in: something that could be developed without many interactions with critical pieces of the rest of the system). It was either that or just quit. My manager was very understanding so that's how it went. I decided to dive into new hobbies and classes that took a lot of time, often 5 days a week, and often starting at 5pm. After about 6 months I could bring myself to occasionally read an email after work again and I was my old self again after about a year. To avoid these issues in the future, I simply stopped working as hard as I did. It helped that I also met my now-wife at the end of my recovery year, which forced me into a better work/life balance. (E.g. dinner at 6pm.)