Time Off

From xkcd.

I think I know something about the discipline needed to keep my hands off the keyboard. On the Long Retreat I disconnected for 30-days with nary a backward glance. On the rare occasions I wanted to find something online, my ever patient director was happy to Google my search terms and print out the results. I kept my journal, by hand, in a bound book. I wrote letters, not emails. And the day that I needed to email my column in to the Standard and Times, I borrowed my director's computer - and found the grace not to read any email while I sent off the column (it struck me at the time that it would be incredibly ironic to flout the rules using your director's internet connection).

Now my right hand is bothering me again, and I've been taking the occasional keyboard break for a day or a half-day. Why is it so much harder to marshal the discipline to stick to a rest break?