I also started with computers and programming at very young age (10yrs), and with a lot of ilusion. 3 years ago when I was 29, my daily routine was going home

I also started with computers and programming at very young age (10yrs), and with a lot of ilusion. 3 years ago when I was 29, my daily routine was going home after job and be with computer untill going to sleep. I had periods of gaming, of programming of discovering-linux, install-and-review the latest open-source inovations, reading books, etc... I always had a big passion for computers, BUT 3 years ago I suddenly got to a point when I realized that computer-time was not satisfying me as much as before... and although my habbits continued to take me home and be with the computer, I started noticing more and more that I was missing other things, like socializing and relating with people in other contexts... Some months later, I had not really made any real change to my lifestyle, and was becoming more and more apathic and frustrated with everything (including my passion with computers) Then, one day, I took the resolution of stop thinking and inscribe myself in the first group-activity that I saw... and that is how I got into a class of martial-arts... It was not easy for me the martial-art, and people where not very warm at first sight, but everytime I was there, sweating and feeling like "maybe-I-should-go-home" I remenbered myself the void sensation of being home alone tired of the computer... and I kept going to classes... some 6 months later, I started to know better my colleagues of the class, and my skills improved naturally, and I started to enjoy the classes by themselves and not as a refuge :) Even still, somedays I got out of job late, or it was very cold and I skipped classes but then it I was at home and feeling frustrated by being there alone with computer, again with that feeling... and that reminded me that I knew I could change it, with my decisions... And that were important frustrated-moments, because helped me see that I could make things to feel better, or I could just not do anything but I would finally feel bad about it... The martial-art classes have been to me the first intent to change my lifestyle, but since those early days, it has given me much much more than I could expect... I made friends, discovered much more interesting persons than I thought there were, and had great time... some special ocasions just happened after a class which I almost missed because of staying-at-the-warmy-home, and I try to not forget those special days because they would not have happened if I had not forced myself to go to class... that for me meant a huge personal lesson I also recommend one of my best-books: "The Magic of Thinking Big" from David Schwarz... while reading that book I rethinked a lot of my own actitudes and it helped me be aware of some personal blocks Hope sharing my experience helps someone :)