to start, i would see if you can switch to 30 hours/week.

so, you stay full time, keep the bennies, take the 25% pay cut, done.

if you can actually get there, that alone would be a huge win.

if you're not too worried about losing your job (you should be), then just ask your boss today - right now - stop reading this, slack your boss, "Hey boss - can we have a quick phone chat? Short story is -- I wanted to see if I could switch to 30 hours/week, stay 'full time' (i.e. keep my benefits), take 25% pay cut. That's the gist of it."

Why?

Ugh. I don't know, honestly. Make something up that sounds reasonable. You want to learn how to paint watercolor.

You're not burned out, you're not unhappy, you love pandemics and life and you're so gd thankful for everything all the time and happy and god bless america, but for some reason you only want to do 30 hours/week. Ideally in 4 days a week instead of 5, but even 5 is doable -- 6 hour days instead of 8.

see what the answer is.

worst that can happen is you get shitcanned on the spot, and now you're in deep shit.

so, tread carefully.

but let us know if you decide to do this, and if you got shitcanned or not.

outside of that, i'd suggest as many of these as you can do, even if sporadically, etc.:

- meditate 5+ minutes/day (headspace)
- fast 16:8 (zero)
- exercise/walk 12+ miles/day (pedometer step counter)
- eat veggies (even if you still eat a bunch of shit)

my personal fave of those is the exercise. even walking - at least 90min - can make a _big_ diff in your mental and physical. and you get to listen to some great stories/pods/books.

i feel like i've been where you are -- about 20 or so times -- really -- so nothing will _actually_ help, except changing jobs -- but the goal is to stay semi-sane and ideally employed while you sort shit out.

yeah, crushing yourself with real endurance exercise, is a great way to go.

also take a week+ vacation if you can. again, try not to get shitcanned.

also, small web dev shop seems like an awesome place to be. but might depend what you're looking for. i've always wanted to be closer to 'the business' -- i.e. the 'sales/dealmaking' -- but your tone regarding the owner makes you sound like...me and every other nerd who has at least at one point in time despised the sales folks for '[insert reason here]'. point of this graf is...put yourself in the sales folks' shoes. my current take on the 'business' vs. 'tech' debate hasn't shifted much in the last 20 years -- once I figured out how important sales was to business, and tried to do it myself, i started getting a _lot_ less cranky about shady/shitty business/sales folks. and the point of the empathy is it might _greatly_ reduce your jadedness, and make you happier/healthier/smarter/better.

shoot - one thing i never tried but think would have been cool -- try to help the company get some sales. but i would not go out there and try to get sales myself - i would ask the owner.

"hey bro, i still love nerding out, but i'd like to learn more about sales and getting customers and return work and all the things that make this company go. i have no idea how i could possibly help, but...i do follow tech and business news, and...".

ok, that's hella awkward, but the point is, imagine you were for a day put in charge, by the supreme being of this dystopia called Earth2020, of helping your company grow - make more money/revenue, get more customers, sell more shit -- what would you do to achieve this goal?

start reading more about Apple's VR play, and how small businesses might be able to benefit? look to sell solutions that just happen to coincide with your dev interests? you ask bossman, "What do you think about when you call a previous customer? Do you just call and say hi, or do you have a specific idea, or shoot the breeze, or talk about VR, or...?"

i do like the idea that...if you're about to try to do something that is relatively or extremely uncomfortable for you to do, it's relatively or extremely the right thing for you to do, respectively. act upon the universe. impose your will. all that type of shit.