Thirty five years ago I had the idea that I could keep my work seperate from my home life and vice versa. Now however I have come to realize that this really isn't possible and I was fooling myself. I spent working hours dealing with customers that had all manner of problems, from wire rewinders that had no brakes to circuit breakers that were popping for no apparent reason and computers that were developing a mind of their own. This really kept me jumping 24/7 and really left little time for the home type of activities. Thankfully a loving wife helped keep the home a place to rest free of commitments that might be interupted by these all important midnight callouts and many, many recurring nightmares thanks to combat induced experiences. Today I fill many off time hours with diversions that serve to build the body and quiet the mind. I shut off the work experiences so effectively that I hated computers and wanted nothing to do with them once I was off the clock. I distanced myself from them and refused to even have one in my home until 15 years ago. Having conquered my demons and exiting that line of work, I reversed the effects and began to enjoy all manner of computer hardware and peripherals to embrace them as a pastime and not an employment. Today I am able to mix the two joyfully and encouraged others to try this tack. I realized that I really didn't seperate the two but was living both side by side, hence the mental turmoil. I am a firm believer that deversion is never an effective escape but just a cover up for real torture. One persons job should be a delight not a burden. If you are not happy at your job you cannot be effective. I still have nightmares that will be with me forever and I still fix perplexing problems in my dreams but I enjoy my work and can't believe I get paid for what I do. My family has found a father that comes home from work happy and needs no encouragement to be part of the family instead of shrinking to another room to answer urgent calls and dash off at all hours to handle someones headaches. I am able to talk with others about their problems and will help them sort out computer faults but refrain from those "housecalls". Working just for the sake of work will end in burnout and hatred and as I have seen in others, a ruined family and uncooperative coworkers which led to suicide.