I just need to ________?

I got to the end of editing the first book for Happy, and it's a quiet time for Grumpy, and I've had about a week and a half completely off. You'd think I'd have been delighted to have this unexpected break, but the stupid reality is that after working such long, long days for weeks on end, I tend to come out the other side as an empty shell of a human being, with no ideas, purpose, interests, or ambition. I sort of forget what it is I like to do in my spare time—or if I know intellectually what it is I like to do, it doesn't matter because I don't actually want to do it anymore. All I feel like doing is working, but there is no more work, so I end up just staring at my computer trying to make some appear.

I realize this sounds pretty bleak. I avoided writing about it, while in the empty-shell stage, for that reason.

Then a few days ago I started getting all interested in this book I'd heard about (about creating a household that produces next to no landfill waste—more on that later), and I started debating with M.H. about the pros and cons of composting, and I started making up Paleo bread recipes again, and I finished reading a novel, and I realized…I came back! I don't quite understand this empty-shell phenomenon, but it seems to happen every time I have to transition from "all the work" to "no work," so maybe I need to find some way to deal with it or head it off or something.

By the way, if you're thinking to yourself, "You dummy, you just need to _________," then please chime in and help me out here. (Unless you filled in the blank with "not work such long hours." That's off the table if I want to be a freelancer.)