I will be the first one to admit that I am an introvert and a homebody. Maternity leave sounded like an absolute dream to me, especially because I got to be off for seven months! (Yay for summers off as a teacher.) But I think anyone would go stir-crazy being stuck at home alone with a newborn for 8 hours a day. So I made a simple rule for myself that I followed through most of my maternity leave and it helped me stay sane.