I dont mean depression or anxiety (this feels different), I mean feeling like you never really recharge, like youve never gotten time off ever. Which I think is partly due to a tendency to put literally 100% into something until you feel fried, move on to the next thing rinse repeat. Even “down time” doesnt really feel like down time because I am stuck between either boredom, working on yet another thing or thinking about things in general.
You can change jobs. You can start an entirely diffetent career. I know a guy who quit teaching high school science because he was so burned out on it and became a plumber. It only took a year of training, and pays great.
If you get a job that doesn’t pay as much as programming, you can downsize your life. You don’t have to keep grinding at your current level to maintain a life that makes you miserable.
It’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about. It’s just daunting, especially when you’re in your 40s. My dad followed a similar path. Was an electrical engineer working on NASA stuff, hated it, became a carpenter.
I’ve been thinking of things that are programming-adjacent too, like technical writing.