Everyone seems so busy building or learning the next big thing, but is anyone else working on absolutely nothing lately? If not, why not?<p>Optional reading:<p>I've always been a curious person, interested in learning new skills and finding fun and useful ways to apply them. I don't know much, but what I do know are things I've set out to learn purely out of interest. Any success in my career has been mostly luck, and being somewhat articulate in a few key areas of IT.<p>But not only has my professional life become monotonous and unchallenging, my drive for novelty and improvement in my personal life has also diminished greatly. In other words, I seem to have lost that curiosity. That drive to learn and apply new things.<p>I'm not sure why this is, but my initial suspicion is that the lack of fulfillment I've experienced in the last ~5 years or so has left me feeling like continuing down the same path is a bit of a waste of time at this point. It all just feels as though it amounts to virtually nothing.<p>To be completely honest, I am working on something, but that something is myself. Working through personal issues has all but completely taken priority over any external endeavors and consumed what little energy I have, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but a healthier balance would probably be ideal.<p>Anyone else from HN in a similar place?
I went through a phase when I was working on my own thing that didn't pan out for a few years which left me burned out from side projects. So I had a few years that I just did my job.<p>Around the height of the pandemic I started an art project was the start of me doing side projects again.
I mean, I'm always tinkering with software projects here and there - but much in the same sense that our fathers and grandfathers probably tinkered with stuff in the garage. Fixing up that mower to run better. Rewiring the garage. Putting a new radio into the car.<p>Except in my case, it's just bits of software I wrote for my personal use.<p>The only "big" thing I'm working on that's not for myself is a character sheet for an RPG, as a means of teaching myself more about React & front-end in general.