Oh man, that's what I seen so many times among younger devs with "passion" — it easily gets derailed by overly high expectations of reality and the crash of thi

Oh man, that's what I seen so many times among younger devs with "passion" — it easily gets derailed by overly high expectations of reality and the crash of this misconception and the reality as it is, where nobody really cares and each compliment whisper is followed by 3 discouraging shouts :( I think young generation (well I'm actually one of you, being 28) needs to learn that work is not everything; We must learn that work is not the aim itself and saying "I'm a developer" does NOT define you anyhow. You just happen to be a developer, no matter how much you would like to identify with this symbol. I was exactly like you at some point of my life. I considered dropping out of school (never did) and started (failed) my startup. And I learnt something. Identifying yourself through the work was killing me. I was a developer and I hated myself. My head hurt and my back was killing me for these hours spent on the chair. I felt like I am cheating myself when not working, everyone I knew almost left. And then epiphany — I just happen to make websites and software. It's my way to earn money, I like doing that, but I'm not 100% developer. Over last few years I started thinking that maybe I'm not even 10% developer. I'm a cook, I'm a dog owner, I'm a movie fan and music person. Saying that I am anything is like saying "I'm finished". I'm not. And you're not finished even though it feels like that. You're in your early 20', you're basically still a child. Embrace it. Being undefined is freedom. Being you I would make a full stop. Rethink. Make a short break to win everything back — go back to school, do a fixer-uper with your close ones. If you loose them now you will never get them back. Be brave and take a step back to make a leap forward, good luck mate! :)