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Might be age. At some point most people stop fully enjoying things. I remember liking music to the point of learning all the lyrics to thousands of songs, likin

Might be age. At some point most people stop fully enjoying things. I remember liking music to the point of learning all the lyrics to thousands of songs, liking movies to the point of knowing all the published dates and actors. At some point it just stopped being that interesting. I still know the lyrics but I rarely learn new ones. Coding for me generated a feeling of maximal accomplishment. After completing a hard coding puzzle from TAOCP or any personal itch I’d be able to sleep immediately or get an even stronger uncontrolled stream of inspiration but now it happens maybe once in a few years. (I’m 30 too)

epimetheus2 5y ago
I fear this very, very much. What if I never can regain that passion? I feel like junkie who never can get another high.
- crocsarecool 5y ago
  I am someone who cycles through passions. I used to feel terrible that I wasn’t able to stick with anything. Now, I’ve come to terms with that being who I am. I’ll love something, drop it two weeks later, pick it back up 3 months from now. The way I look at it is it’s my leisure time, and I get really stuck/dissatisfied with life when I feel like my side hobbies are jobs that I should be doing. I am jealous of my friends who find something they enjoy then obsess over it. I just can’t do it. I’ll read 3/4 books at the same time. I guess what I’m trying to say is, passion doesn’t have to be one note. Passion has ebbs and flows, but there is always something out there waiting for you.
Viliam1234 5y ago
I think it is not the age per se, but rather the lifestyle changes that usually come with age. How many responsibilities are you keeping on your mind? It used to be "school", which is relatively simple: you do the lessons and maybe homework, and spend 2 days before the exam learning. There is a lot of free time and attention to explore and learn new things. Also, the school automatically provides a social environment of people facing the same problems as you do; but at the same time, many of them are willing to discuss school-unrelated topics with you. Now "work" is more complicated, because on one hand you need to do the work you are assigned, but at the same time you also need to make long-term decisions about your career. (It is possible to get into a blind alley by doing whatever the company needs from you... only to find out one day that your current project is finished, and your knowledge is obsolete, because you focused too much on finishing the old project which used old technologies, and didn't pay enough attention to learn the new ones. Oh my, this may actually look pretty bad on your CV.) You have fewer colleagues than you had classmates, and most of them are probably working on other projects. Most of your colleagues are probably not interested in your work-unrelated interests. But you have fewer time to socialize with people who are not your colleagues. When you have kids, this introduces a new set of duties: how to feed them, how to play with them, the choice of kindergarten and school, etc. Even less free time. The problem is that when you find some interesting thing, it becomes more difficult, sometimes completely impossible, to dedicate some time to think only about that thing and nothing else. At school, you can spend half of your weekdays and full weekends doing whatever you want. With job, it becomes evening when you are tired, plus weekends. With kids, it's maybe 30 minutes every night after the kids are sleeping, and no time during weekend; it depends on your situation, what kind of babysitting is available, etc. Of course it is harder to get enthusiastic about something that you barely have any time to do, and definitely no long uninterrupted blocks of time. It's not just that duties take away your time, but also the fact that they are present in the background of your mind even when you are not actively working on them. It's always the "shouldn't I be doing X instead?" or "only 30 minutes left, then I have to turn this off and do X instead". That distracts and takes away the joy.

epimetheus2 5y ago

I fear this very, very much. What if I never can regain that passion? I feel like junkie who never can get another high.

crocsarecool 5y ago
I am someone who cycles through passions. I used to feel terrible that I wasn’t able to stick with anything. Now, I’ve come to terms with that being who I am. I’ll love something, drop it two weeks later, pick it back up 3 months from now. The way I look at it is it’s my leisure time, and I get really stuck/dissatisfied with life when I feel like my side hobbies are jobs that I should be doing. I am jealous of my friends who find something they enjoy then obsess over it. I just can’t do it. I’ll read 3/4 books at the same time. I guess what I’m trying to say is, passion doesn’t have to be one note. Passion has ebbs and flows, but there is always something out there waiting for you.

Viliam1234 5y ago

I think it is not the age per se, but rather the lifestyle changes that usually come with age. How many responsibilities are you keeping on your mind? It used to be "school", which is relatively simple: you do the lessons and maybe homework, and spend 2 days before the exam learning. There is a lot of free time and attention to explore and learn new things. Also, the school automatically provides a social environment of people facing the same problems as you do; but at the same time, many of them are willing to discuss school-unrelated topics with you. Now "work" is more complicated, because on one hand you need to do the work you are assigned, but at the same time you also need to make long-term decisions about your career. (It is possible to get into a blind alley by doing whatever the company needs from you... only to find out one day that your current project is finished, and your knowledge is obsolete, because you focused too much on finishing the old project which used old technologies, and didn't pay enough attention to learn the new ones. Oh my, this may actually look pretty bad on your CV.) You have fewer colleagues than you had classmates, and most of them are probably working on other projects. Most of your colleagues are probably not interested in your work-unrelated interests. But you have fewer time to socialize with people who are not your colleagues. When you have kids, this introduces a new set of duties: how to feed them, how to play with them, the choice of kindergarten and school, etc. Even less free time. The problem is that when you find some interesting thing, it becomes more difficult, sometimes completely impossible, to dedicate some time to think only about that thing and nothing else. At school, you can spend half of your weekdays and full weekends doing whatever you want. With job, it becomes evening when you are tired, plus weekends. With kids, it's maybe 30 minutes every night after the kids are sleeping, and no time during weekend; it depends on your situation, what kind of babysitting is available, etc. Of course it is harder to get enthusiastic about something that you barely have any time to do, and definitely no long uninterrupted blocks of time. It's not just that duties take away your time, but also the fact that they are present in the background of your mind even when you are not actively working on them. It's always the "shouldn't I be doing X instead?" or "only 30 minutes left, then I have to turn this off and do X instead". That distracts and takes away the joy.