It quickly became a very hot, muggy day today, not just weather-wise. As I sat at my desk at work, it felt as if my ergonomically correct chair had been strangely transformed into my daughter’s childhood toy, the Sit ‘n Spin.

Remember those toys? They looked like a blue, plastic, pedestal dining room table (on a smaller scale) turned upside down. The underneath part was like a giant lazy Susan. The object was for the child to sit cross-legged on it, holding onto the smaller circular handle that came up through the middle, and gleefully spin, spin, spin. My daughter loved hers. She’d spin until she almost tossed her cookies. Then she’d get up, walk around dizzily and giggle like a loony-toon, so I’d sweep her into my arms and giggle with her. Obviously she could only spin quickly for a few minutes. Also, sitting on it and watching TV was somehow great fun.

However, a Sit ‘n Spin in the office or in the home (when you don’t have children) does not make for an interesting object d’art. Not at all. You feel like you’re spinning but getting nothing accomplished. That’s the exact moment to jump off. Like what my daughter did, I will get off (why did I get on in the first place?) before I toss my cookies. This is not considered great fun at this juncture in my life.

Knowing when to halt the whirling dervish from taking you over at home or at work can become a task in itself, but it doesn’t have to be. The moment (and I mean exact moment) when you physically place your hands, palms out, in front of you and say, “Hang on” or feel the need to, then it’s time to get off that Sit ‘n Spin and leave it for the kids. Because, that’s when your brain just hit overload and the next steps may not be pretty ones for you or those around you. And do you really want to do that to yourself? Of course not.

So walk away. Not out, away. There’s a big difference. In recovery programs they have an acronym called HALT; it stands for Hungry Angry Lonely, and Tired. It means that you don’t make any decisions while you’re HALTing. Just walk away and breathe. Take five and cool off or or cool down, or just cool it. But don’t react. Reacting never helped anyone, unless you’re part of an emergency medical team.

Next time you feel like you will truly spin out of control like a top, or like the always calm, cool and collected Tasmanian Devil, dump that Sit ‘n Spin and take a mental walk. Even if it means stomping your feet a bit as you walk away, it sure beats spinning.