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Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

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Re: Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

#181

A lot of comments have said "stay in therapy" or "quit therapy", but my immediate reaction is that maybe you have the wrong (ineffective) therapist and need to switch . My spidey sense went up when you mentioned what "you told your therapist", full stop. I was at least expecting "what my therapist responded" or "what my therapist told me that didn't work". That really (spidey sense, no evidence really) implies that y…

also has OP explored pharmaceuticals? I did a year of prozac, am off now, and it completely reset me. The hole I was in and was incapable of climbing out of by myself is now in the rear view mirror.

edit - I missed it in OP - but perhaps the same feedback, try something else? good luck OP.

Re: Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

#183
Maybe you have hit your zenith for that stuff in particular.

Things are exciting while you're getting all the wins of the low-hanging fruit. But then the wins get harder and farther between, and familiarity breeds contempt, and after a while I don't want to put in the effort for the next win. In that field.

So I switched fields. Now I'm an educator. And holy shit, it's something to step out of a decades-long developer career where you have a pretty good handle on it into a field that's radically different and you know nothing.

For me, it was a fresh start. I proudly look back on my time in a megacorp, my time in a dot-com startup, my time working in a AAA game studio, my time as an independent contractor, my time in the business I cofounded... Good times. Worth it. But now, tiresome to think about continuing.

Luckily I've entered the new world of education, with so much to learn, and so much to explore, and so many new ideas that are with pursuing, and so many challenges. I'll probably never write software for hire again, and that's fine with me. I got my own stuff to work on, and it keeps me plenty busy.

Two more things:

For me, 50 was the hard birthday. Can't pretend you're 39 anymore. But on the plus side, some liberation comes with that. You don't need to pretend you're 39 anymore. Let that wisdom show through.

Anecdotally, some people have had success with shrooms for finding their way. Not saying that would be you, and I'm no expert, and everybody's different, but it might be worth some investigation.

Re: Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

#184
Might not be helpful but you're not the only one. I'm in a very similar position; there are some details that are different but otherwise I could have written exactly what you wrote, and the gist is the same.

Over time I do think I've gained some perspective on how I started feeling this way and what led me to make some decisions. Basically I just felt like my career was taking a lot, and I wasn't really getting what I wanted, even though it was successful in important ways. Critically, I felt like the choices I was making to maintain it started affecting my spouse and child in important ways, and whoever I went to -- family, friends, colleagues, they didn't really help, just told me to basically sit tight and not fret, which wasn't helpful. I think that was the final straw really; if it hadn't been affecting them as well I would have just kept with things the way they were.

What I didn't realize at the time that's taken me a few years to recognize is that my local environment was really the problem. The place I was at really changed, and became really dysfunctional in important ways. In hindsight, there are things I would have done differently, but at the time I couldn't see how to do them, no one was suggesting them, when I tried to do them, it didn't work, and people I know who had tried to do them also weren't successful. I think I attributed to my field of work problems that were especially bad where I was at, and not as bad in other places.

To be honest, as I've recognized what was happening I've only grown more hopeless, and also angry because I feel like there are really simple things that would have made a world of difference, and I find myself wondering why no one around was doing any of them. At the time I beat myself up about them, or found myself "done" with it, but in retrospect I realize how easily so much of it could have gone differently. It was the perfect storm in important ways.

Friends, colleagues, and family tend to either criticize me for not just "sticking" with it, and/or express admiration for not putting up with it, but then implore me to "move forward" but the avenues I've explored haven't worked, and no one has any idea what "moving forward" actually means in a practical sense. Others basically tell me to just change my goals or priorities, or just appreciate what I have (which is a lot in important ways) but to me it comes across as minimizing things -- which was 75% of what I was upset with in others before -- or as telling me to lie to myself, which I can't do.

I tried professional help. The therapist that I got along with was one of the only people to tell me to just try something different at the time this all started, which I did, and at this point, like you, something like ketamine or psychedelics has crossed my mind (probably the latter because if nothing else it's an experience that I've always been curious about). But to me this all seems to miss the point at some level, which is feeling boxed in or typecast by my past or something.

Anyway, I'm not sure if anything I've said is helpful. But you're not alone. I think the best advice I've gotten is to think about what it is you really want at this point, and to keep swinging at opportunities in that direction as best you can, and to keep in mind that hope sometimes means believing there's a solution when you don't know what it is. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have the benefit of trying things out.

Re: Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

#185
The world can't satisfy the human soul. You're having an Ecclesiastes moment. Therapists are secular pseudo-preists and can't solve a problem of meaning when they can only work within an a-teleological paradigm. I'd recommend the book "Nihilism, the Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age" by Fr. Seraphim Rose, an Eastern Orthodox convert who went on to co-found a monastery in California. There are pdfs and epubs available online, as well as an audiobook on YouTube.

If you look for meaning you'll find what you're looking for, and not in an arbitrary intellectually dishonest way either like the evangelicals etc do

Re: Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

#186

Sorry you feel that way, I'll try to be frank here, if my advice isn't useful, just don't take it. I know a few people exactly like you, that like to boost about how well off they are and that are depressed and sad, but they treat life as it is a game of competition, this is why they usually start by displaying how "they've won", but in reality they were the only ones that were silly enough to only think about work.…

Re: "Now there is still a lot of golden days, but it will never be like you were 20, for sure.", this is not necessarily a bad thing. 20-somethings move so fast because they don't have the experience to move strategically, to stop, think slowly and methodically, gather perspectives and advice, and make deliberate, powerful moves. Older people don't need to be so hyperactive; we move with more efficiency because we don't need to move as MUCH. Learn to play chess rather than checkers. This worship of youth is disease.

Re: Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

#187
I’d consider your history to be rather successful, and while I wouldn’t consider myself nearly as successful I do feel like I can relate on many levels.

What got me through the depression that ensues in what I think was also a “mid-life crisis” was the perspective offered by James Hollis in his book: “The Middle Passage: From misery to meaning in midlife”.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47849.The_Middle_Passage

These sorts of crises come along at various points in our lives apparently, when something new starts brewing within that finds itself at odds with the outer structures in our lives. Unfortunately we don’t have very good societal structures/processes to assist people through these difficult times, but I feel that an understanding of the underlying psychological dynamics within oneself that give rise to this conflict can ease the suffering induced by these times of transition.

And it is genuine suffering. Make no mistake. Part of you needs to die and be renewed. It’s also not something to numb or shy away from, but to work through. Just as building your life “before” was a project, or series of projects, so is this task of moving through this difficult time, riddled with paradoxes and contradictions.

Re: Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

#188

A lot of comments have said "stay in therapy" or "quit therapy", but my immediate reaction is that maybe you have the wrong (ineffective) therapist and need to switch . My spidey sense went up when you mentioned what "you told your therapist", full stop. I was at least expecting "what my therapist responded" or "what my therapist told me that didn't work". That really (spidey sense, no evidence really) implies that y…

Absolutely. And even among good therapists, good fit is critical. Just because someone comes highly recommended by others doesn't mean they'll be right for you.

Re: Tell HN: Turned 44 today and I'm lost

#189
post #98

Sorry you feel that way, I'll try to be frank here, if my advice isn't useful, just don't take it. I know a few people exactly like you, that like to boost about how well off they are and that are depressed and sad, but they treat life as it is a game of competition, this is why they usually start by displaying how "they've won", but in reality they were the only ones that were silly enough to only think about work.…

> but in reality they were the only ones that were silly enough to only think about work A lot of people find passion + work align. It's ok not to waste your time watching TV, sports, playing games, art, and all that stuff people do to distract them from life. It is ok for your hobby to be work. There are just enough people who aren't driven to work, that it bothers them. I can work 10 hours every day, and enjoy work…

> It is ok for your hobby to be work.

I disagree and I also don't think watching TV qualifies as a hobby. Hobbies are something you set out to actively do and you're OK being mediocre at. Sort of like a pretend-job where there's no real pressure, only the joy of experimenting with it.

Almost by definition, you want to excel at work. You're worried about promotions, being fired, hitting your goals, getting the comp number you wanted at the end of the year, dealing with co-workers you can't avoid, bosses, beating your competitors, etc. Hobbies have none of these things. Not to mention the personal responsibility of bringing home the bacon, even if you're not the sole breadwinner, balancing life and work, dealing with conflicting schedules, etc.

Learning to play the piano or to sail or to skate or to crochet are activities that can be challenging but you don't owe anything to anyone. You do it because it's a nice way to get your mind off the stuff that does stress you.

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