[lucb1e]

> I would have lost access to the developed world FOREVER

What's wrong with being a programmer in a different country? Maybe I don't understand but as someone who writes code and doesn't have a "green card" (afaict that's some USA immigration thing) I really don't see the problem there. Not doing anything fun for a year seems like a much bigger sentence than not being allowed to stay in a place that you apparently didn't come from to begin with. There are a lot of other rich countries in the world if that's what you're looking for? I heard some of them even score higher on happiness indices.

I do agree with you that OP seems to have social anxiety. Reading that they have a lot of trouble posting things online, that's not normal and definitely doesn't seem like a good recipe for someone who wants to make a living with a developer job in this digital world. But I don't agree that because you went through self-proclaimed bigger risks, this person isn't rightfully frustrated after not managing to make money from self-employment.