Oh how I can identify with This entire article…here’s the highly relevant part.
So when I look out that window and see a robin perched on a tree gently swaying in a warm breeze, I begin to wonder just what life would be like if I wasn’t in the IT game any more — if I didn’t have to keep up on every new development and trend, if I wasn’t constantly bombarded with new technologies at every turn, and instead spent my days making sure that the sheep didn’t range too far or be attacked by wolves. I could sit in the shade under that very tree, my brain free of all worry and concern over massive projects, the roar of the air conditioner absent from my daily reality, the very idea of checking my email every few minutes an absurdity. How simple, how stressless that seems — how perfect.
When my brain snaps back to reality, I understand completely why I do what I do — because I have the type of brain that needs constant feeding, constant exercise. The life of a sheepherder may seem hopelessly romantic and enticing when laboring under a build deadline or frantically searching for the cause of an abrupt network crash, but I’d be a fool if I thought that I’d last more than a day or two without some knotty problem or project to occupy my head.
That’s why I’m in IT. As exhausting as it can be, it provides rich mental rewards if done right, and to many that’s as addictive as heroin. I’ve had this addiction for so long, I’m way past therapy or treatment. I’m a lifer.
via Addicted to IT: Quitting is not an option | Data Center – InfoWorld.