Ask HN: Words of encouragement for someone lost in life?
I was quite literally obsessed with programming. I would wake up in the morning, program all day, go to sleep, and repeat it the next day. This earned me many accolades in college and a great job afterward. But, like you, if I paused for a moment to reflect, I felt so incredibly empty and alone. The programming increasingly became an escapist activity to avoid these feelings. Then one day my old high school friend, whom I had not seen in many years, invited me to spend time with his friends from the  Air Force. Stepping outside of my bubble was incredibly refreshing. None of these people knew anything, nor cared, about computers or programming. Wow! What was the point of everything I was doing? This thing I spent so much time on, truly the focus of my life, and these people do not even care one bit about it. How can they even live? Lol. I then decided to take the whole thing MUCH less seriously and branch out into all kinds of areas.Here are things to consider doing- drastically reduce the amount of time you spend behind a screen (even immediately throw away a lot of math/science/etc paraphernalia)- join a regular gym- start lifting weights- join a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym- sincerely evaluate your style of dress (do you give off a feminine-milquetoast or masculine vibe) visit Reddit, etc for ideas- if you are a gamer, immediately stop- sign up for volunteering / toastmasters / improv class /  races / all varieties of dancing / meetups / doordash / Uber driver (point being, meet more people, put yourself out there way more)