Officials - BURNOUT

[PeteBooth]

My Company I work for has recently Merged with another Company. Presently, waiting for FTC / Board Approval which for all practical purposes is a Formality.

This thread is not about being sorry for myself as I will receive a decent Severance Package. I am only 44 so I will still have to work so I have been contemplating a few things lately. One of those things concerns Full Time Officiating.

Presently, I only Umpire Baseball. I am thinking about Football / Basketball and yes maybe even S****r.

The point of this thread is: Presently, I umpire between 70 - 90 games a year (includes LL games). Some of you probably umpire 100 -200 depending upon where one lives. Those of you who post regularly, know I'm from the East - so the weather comes into play.

I do not know about you but at the end of the season (Spring through Fall), I am happy for the break. I enjoy umpiring (otherwise I wouldn't do it), but at the end of a long season, I enjoy the time off.

My question for those individuals who umpire many games and for those umpires who also officiate other sports is: What do you do to avoid BURNOUT ?

To me the burnout isn't so much the officiating part, but the constant dealing with coaches / players, keeping one's cool in a "sticky" situation and also dealing with one's own association.

After a while, at least for me it's nice to just Get Away from it All .

So while I ponder what "I want to be when I grow up", what advice can you give to avoid Burnout. Thanks