Remember that the pressure is being applied by yourself. Nobody is demanding that you buy a home, work at faang, climb the career ladder, etc, except you. Stop

Remember that the pressure is being applied by yourself. Nobody is demanding that you buy a home, work at faang, climb the career ladder, etc, except you. Stop giving yourself a hard time. You wouldn't give others a hard time about their career [or lack of one], would you? The way I got there is: My goals were not very high. I made a crapton of personal projects and taught myself an insane amount by 19/20 so that I actually knew a good deal more technically and practically than some intermediate positions. I was overconfident and good at seeming very talented. I took jobs that didn't require a ton of technical or incredibly hard interviews. And I coasted for about the first 10 years. The next 10 I overworked myself because I thought I needed to, because I didn't want to do the job anymore and figured if I just did it better than anyone else I'd feel better about it. And finally I took jobs where I was literally making the world and people better. The whole time, I gave myself crap for not getting enough done, and much of the time felt bad for "wasting" my time. Now I realize that I have a ton of life left still and no particular goals in mind, so who cares if it's a waste as long as I can enjoy the waste? And I do (mostly) enjoy my job and my free time now. Sure I don't own a home and the things I want deem farther off than for many others. Same is true for many other people, and that's fine. Whatever happens is just life and it's OK. Just sucks that it took me so long to realize that who I am is fine and doesn't need fixing.