I just took a break for a couple of days. It was so bad that I even went about four hours last night with nothing in my skill train!! I know, ARGH! lol.
Mini-breaks are one of the tools I use to keep Eve alive. Eve tends to be very streaky and enveloping, in other words, the more you play the more it sucks you into itself. This is immersion sure, but there is a dark side to becoming immersed. You can lose track of other things. And events within the game start to take on a value inappropriate to their true value. When suddenly that last exploded ship is finally enough. You've fallen off the edge.
This kind of cycle isn't good for anyone.
Some people turn to special projects, a podcast, a blog, a work of fiction, these are all tools that some use to break from the actual game - while still remaining involved with Eve itself. For me that escape is easy, I have my blog and my work. Like the picture of Rixx that is on this post, no reason at all to do that - but it was fun.
In my humble opinion Bitter Vet Syndrome is best defeated by the opposite force - a sense of fun. If you are not having fun in Eve something is terribly wrong. And eventually that serious business of yours is going to bite you in the ass. And you'll find yourself extremely bitter about a closed door, or a changed hull model, or worthless ships artificially inflated on the market being given out behind your back, or something.
Thing is, everyone's definition of fun is different. And that is perfectly ok. All Eve is about really, is finding your happy place. Miner, builder, trader, shooter, defender or explorer. Where is your happy place?
Find it and enjoy it.
In the meantime, fly something you have never flown before. Go somewhere you have never been. See something you have never seen. Act in a way contrary to your nature. see what it is like. Try it on. Be daring.
Falling into a rut is the enemy of fun and the friend of the Bitter Vet.
In the meantime you can admire that awesome portrait.