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TL;DR - Aging is weird, but it beats the alternative.

Other commenters are giving you excellent advice about burnout. I agree with what they say, but want to toss in a different perspective.

When I was in Grade 9, there was a hip hop group called Kris Kross. At the time, I thought they were great. So great, that I went out and bought their CD, put it on repeat and listened to it for weekend long BBS marathon.

Today, I'm a little embarrassed to admit I was that passionate about the wack emcees who wore their clothes backwards. I haven't listened to them in years. Yet other bands that I worshipped in Grade 9 (ie - Bad Religion, NOFX and the Dead Kennedys) are still extremely important to me.

I'm 35 now and my passions have ebbed and flowed through the years. They are more fixed now, but they went a little wild between my teens and mid 20s. Heck, in high school, I was a straight edge post punk who wouldn't be friends with people who dared to smoke pot near me. By my third year of university, I was conducting pharmaceutical experiments on myself at raves.

We ebb and we flow. We change just as constantly as the landscapes that surround us. We fall in and out of love with new ideas, people, sounds and pursuits.

Take a deep hard look at whether or not you may be burned out. Try new things, immerse yourself in whatever seems exciting, and read new books. Learn to climb. Scare yourself half to death. Write a book. Get tattooed. Your passion for programming will likely come back. Or, it may be gone forever. Embrace the changes, my friend, you're going to learn an awful lot about yourself over the next few months!

Best of luck and remember that smooth seas never made a skilled skipper.




for the original post: there's not much more i can add other than what others are saying worked for me, too. Got sick of fundraising, moved to marketing. Got burned out of marketing, took up a side project (print-only diy zine) and then i discovered the startup scene and my love for marketing came back. im still at the same organization and love it.

for @hluska: im 27 but as of last year started experiencing the "aging is weird" phenomenon.

btw, i listened to kriss kross in 3rd grade, in high school became a straight-edge 70s revivalist (only listened to zeppelin, sabbath, doors and other typical gateway artists). oddly enough, i then went post-punk and partied my brains out. i love business and the startup community but still love dk, misfits, screamers (and canada had a killer music/movie scene in the 80s!)


Great. Now I have Kriss Kross running through my head. Thanks a lot.




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