Burrito bowl, to go. Easy on the rice. Carnitas, pinto beans, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, and yes, I know there’s an extra charge for the guac.

I’ll take some chips, too.

Chipotle is always my first stop whenever I’m back in California.

Dad’s seventy-third birthday was this month. He’s had a hard life, and he probably doesn’t have that many years left in him, so I’m making a solid effort to spend as much time with the old man as possible. So, I’ve come back to my native Sacramento to help Dad cut down some old, dead trees in the backyard.

Taking time off like this is hard.

It’s an incredible thrill to charge into the next project with a full head of thermonuclear steam, and when you take a break from charging ahead, the fear of losing that momentum is very, very real. It’s even more terrifying to know that every second you aren’t moving forward, you’re falling behind.

Taking time off like this is hard because it’s scary.

Vacations like this are definitely not a luxury. Building a startup takes vision, skill, a metric ton of tenacity, and more than a few buckets of crazy. Getting into the right mental state to marshall all of that together without driving yourself into a mental hospital takes a fair bit of time.

Spending some quality time with your family during this period also a good idea, as you’ll need to convince them that you’re still sane.

You just need to remind yourself that you’re taking the time off to refuel the awesome space-rocket that is your brain, and that if you blast off too soon, you’ll end up buried somewhere in a cornfield, and will never get a chance to build the rotating orbital space laser that you’ve got your mind set on.

It’s also a really great excuse to grab some Chipotle.