Nicky's been a maker since his grandma bought him his first *real* toolbox when he was 4. His aunt taught him JavaScript when he was 12 and almost 20 years later, he still can't stop programming.
My wife is from Barcelona and for about 6 months before we were married we had to be outside of the US as we waited for her visa. We stayed at a family place they have about an hour South of Barcelona in a somewhat rural area.
I spent most of my days there coding but twice a week we'd go to a little family-owned farm where they taught Spanish-style horseback riding. I'd never done it before, but it seemed like a fun experience (it was!).
There was a 20-minute drive to get there and pretty much without fail I'd be in a less-than-agreeable mood the entire ride. I'm a pretty positive person, but we'd go in the middle of the day and my brain was 100% in code-mode. I was still thinking through issues, stuck in the mental map of my work and just didn't want to talk or deal with the outside world (which made me a pretty bad adventure-companion).
The funny thing, though, is that as soon as we started getting the horses out of the stables and saddled up, I'd snap out of it. And by the time we were riding, my mind was just completely clear, in the moment, laughing, smiling. The car ride back would always be full of energy, conversation, and happiness. Completely night-and-day shift and nothing changed but my own mental space.
Thinking about it now - this definitely does happen in other ways and I'm actually not sure I've really given it the attention to find a reliable solution.
It seems like what worked well with the horses was having something physical and slightly dangerous, which forced me to focus on the present moment and break free of my code-mind.
I wonder if there's some hack to achieve similar characteristics in an office setting, that can be done on the way out the door.
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
This is such a great question!
My wife is from Barcelona and for about 6 months before we were married we had to be outside of the US as we waited for her visa. We stayed at a family place they have about an hour South of Barcelona in a somewhat rural area.
I spent most of my days there coding but twice a week we'd go to a little family-owned farm where they taught Spanish-style horseback riding. I'd never done it before, but it seemed like a fun experience (it was!).
There was a 20-minute drive to get there and pretty much without fail I'd be in a less-than-agreeable mood the entire ride. I'm a pretty positive person, but we'd go in the middle of the day and my brain was 100% in code-mode. I was still thinking through issues, stuck in the mental map of my work and just didn't want to talk or deal with the outside world (which made me a pretty bad adventure-companion).
The funny thing, though, is that as soon as we started getting the horses out of the stables and saddled up, I'd snap out of it. And by the time we were riding, my mind was just completely clear, in the moment, laughing, smiling. The car ride back would always be full of energy, conversation, and happiness. Completely night-and-day shift and nothing changed but my own mental space.
Thinking about it now - this definitely does happen in other ways and I'm actually not sure I've really given it the attention to find a reliable solution.
It seems like what worked well with the horses was having something physical and slightly dangerous, which forced me to focus on the present moment and break free of my code-mind.
I wonder if there's some hack to achieve similar characteristics in an office setting, that can be done on the way out the door.