I took a three month leave of absence at the end of a six year run of 7x24 days in the dot com era, totally burned out. I extended it another three months as I entered the initial last month as I didn't feel "ready" to return.

I think the experience completely broke my willingness to return to a "normal" tech role again and I've bounced between short bursts of employment and long bursts of not working or semi–employment as a consultant.

I think it also saved my life.

Mistakes I made:

  I didn't have a plan to structure my time off.
  I didn't have any goals to accomplish in my time off.
  I didn't arrange ahead of time for a role to return to.

What I did do: learned basic Mandarin, established a relationship that has lasted 20+ years, read many non CS / non-technical books, focused on getting healthier and fitter.

Specific advice: structure your time off, set goals, try to accomplish them but don't punish yourself if you fail. Arrange ahead of time for a role to return to, even if it's time limited or isn't what you "really want to do".

I wrote longer about this previously but can't find it in my first few pages of comments.