Joe Rule

Computers are my hobby, my education, my career, my addiction. Though it may sound conceited, I have a natural talent with computers. This talent comes with a cost. I can easily spend 12 hours in front of a computer, barely taking a break to eat. I get sucked into learning a new program or trying to fix a bug in the code. It's easy to tell when I've overdone it. I find it hard to concentrate on anything except the computer. I can't sleep – my mind is still whirling and gnawing away at whatever I was working on. I find it disorienting to drive or focus my eyes on something farther than 3 feet away.

It has been years since I read steadily. When I was younger I always had my nose in a book. Through high school and into college I started working on the computer more and more. I had no interest in books and they could not hold my focus for more than a few minutes. Recently, I've rediscovered the joy of reading. Being sucked into a book has an incredible calming affect. I feel at peace after “coming back to reality” from a book—the exact opposite of working on the computer.

--Balance in all things is the key to peace and success.