For me, it was probably work life balance My family was very house poor when I was growing up. We didn't live in poverty, but we were on the low end of lower m

For me, it was probably work life balance My family was very house poor when I was growing up. We didn't live in poverty, but we were on the low end of lower middle class, living on the fringes of a very upper middle class area so growing up I always felt poorer than we maybe actually were. It put me in that poverty mindset where I couldn't take breaks or vacations, I always had to work as hard as I could to earn as much as I could, then save every cent I burned out hard just a few years after I started my career. I was a mess. I was on medical leave for a few months, then I was unemployed. I didn't have much savings because I wasn't actually earning that much and I was living in a very expensive city. I had a lot of realizations then, about why I chose to live and stay in that city (proximity to my family), what was keeping me there (built in group of acquaintances), and my real career opportunities and trajectory if I stayed. So I left I don't see my family as often anymore which does suck. I don't miss most of the acquaintances, few of them were real friends anyways, and the few that I do miss would have likely moved on eventually as they started having kids anyways. I don't work nearly as hard or as many hours as I used to, I make 3x more money, and I have way more free time. I'm also a much more well rounded developer as a result I think Taking time to yourself isn't optional, you cannot improve if you're constantly exhausted and focussed on just getting the next thing done. You need time to breathe and look at the bigger picture