I think that's a really good observation and it aligns with my own experiences to some extent. I started working as a dev/designer at the age of 15 and have spe

I think that's a really good observation and it aligns with my own experiences to some extent. I started working as a dev/designer at the age of 15 and have spent almost 20 years in the trade. My career progressed fairly quickly, with my first CTO gig at the age of 24, then moving to founding dev/tech-lead roles, which makes me feel super privileged but at the same time worked too well as a distraction from issues in other parts of my life (PTSD, depression). The last 5 years have been a struggle, there are days, _weeks_ when I just can't code the simplest thing. The irony is that I have the tools to build most of the things I want, both technical and product related (design, UX, marketing), but now my brain takes 10x time to apply them and it just feels almost physically painful. At first, it was weird and scary. Therapy and moving from a big tech hub to a small town in a different country helped a lot. But, I feel like I have to re-learn so much because most of my life revolved around IT. I grew up poor and I'm aware of how privileged this sounds, but that's also one of the reasons for my problems: it's hard to make decisions that are good for you and your loved ones if you keep constantly second guessing/judging yourself/overthinking. There are still days I'm terrified of ending up alone and homeless, although I know, rationally, how much I have and how happy I am in my relationships with people. You see, for me "pure IT" was never enough. But, it was a good way of creating a constant stream of problems I could solve, then get rewarded for solving them, rinse and repeat... This includes dopamine (I solved "the <small design or CS> problem"!), a sense of progression ("I can solve more difficult problems now"!). Another issue is that in our trade often it's very hard to see the actual results of our work. I mean, actually, physically interact with people and see their happy faces when we do something for them. At a very basic level, this is something that humans need to keep going. I sometimes mentor or just chat with random people in our trade via "office hours" and this is brought up very often, regardless of age and expertise. On a positive note, I'm aware that with enough work and patience this will get easier, and will make me a better person. Most of the days I feel happy, more than before. At the age of 25 it was easier to work 80-100 h per week to brute force your problems, instead of slowing down and learning how to live with the ape you are. I just think that the nature of our work enables an unhealthy pattern of avoiding problems. It's easy to get lost in it.