It Can't Rain All The Time: Stay Connected

Keeping your perspective means not spending every waking moment (and as many sleeping ones as you can) dealing with Empire. Even the best machines need downtime, preventative maintenance and periodic overhauls; even the best racers, pilots, fighters, and other athletes need to pace themselves and watch for over-extension. You're not a machine, and chances are pretty good that you're not a top-tier athlete either, so you certainly are NOT exempt from all of this stuff. You need to eat properly, sleep well, get around and mind your balance- not just for this matter, but for all of them. You're no good if you're run-down, ill, injured, distracted or otherwise unable to get that energy up and give it the focus it needs to let you get what you need to do done.

If you stay in the trenches 24/7/365, you'll end up overwhelmed by fatigue and burn yourself out (and no, cheeky chum, taking Leap Day off doesn't count) and that makes you useless to yourself as well as everyone else. Do the smart thing and rotate out on a regular basis, get away and recover someplace far from the line of battle. I mean this metaphorically as much as literally, because you will need the former (and be able to achieve the former) far more than the latter; being able to keep your head straight is a big deal, and being able to do it away from the holiday destinations most people resort to in order to get their head straight makes you a far stronger individual than most right there.

So find something that brings you joy, makes you laugh, or otherwise reconnect with reality in a way that reminds you why you're doing this: play with the kids, read some good fiction, date night with your special one, get your records on and dive deep into the music (or go attend a concert), head out to the museum and get lost in the best damn art you can find, paint, draw, shoot, meditate, write some music of your own, pick up an instrument and play, sing your heart out, run until you can't, cook a meal that people will talk about for years afterwords, whatever. Find that thing (or things) and get into them when you need to go recharge, rest and recuperate. This is work, and it will take a lot out of you (as if your day job didn't, of course), and if you let yourself become obsessed then you're going to have a bad time and end up in a bad way.

Love is why you're here. Don't for get that. It can't rain all the time, so make the time to get out and stay connected to what you love and that will keep you going until Empire falls.