Spolsky would advise a sabbatical. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000076.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000076.html I've co

Spolsky would advise a sabbatical. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000076.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000076.html I've considered taking a "normal-job-as-sabbatical" several times (e.g., being a welder for a year). (also, consider that humans tend to adjust their problem-severity-sensitivity knob to their current level of input. e.g., the bus driver in your home town is probably really stressed out about this "problems". this puts you in the rare position of possibly being able to truly achieve 0-stress in one of those "normal" jobs, as long as you can keep your current perspective on what "real" stress is).