The Source of my Lethargy

As strange as this may sound, and it sounds very strange to me, I think the inactivity, my lack of things to do at work, is causing a mental exhaustion and burn-out which is affecting the rest of my life. I'm not the kind of person who likes to do personal things on company time; I try to take to heart the admonition to “work as unto the Lord.” When I run out of things to do at work I cannot just pick up a personal project and work on it, unless I either have boss approval, or I can directly relate that personal project to later work project. This has not been the case of late.

For reasons I fail to understand the technical projects at my company have all dried up and I'm now on maintenance duty. My job seems little more than to keep the wheels greased and running smoothly. I don't have much to do. Because of that, and because of my attitude toward work, I have been spending the last few weeks looking for something to do. Eight hours out of every day, forty hours a week, I'm sitting at my desk expending tremendous amounts of mental energy trying to keep myself occupied with things that are relevant to my job. It's no wonder I'm exhausted at the end of every day. It's no wonder I don't find myself very creative anymore.