[chc]

I'm sure you study, research, write, socialize, etc. in addition to learning C++. If not, I recommend starting. Those are all way more important than C++.

And like I said, it doesn't need to be your pain that you're relieving. Look at the people around you — even if you yourself are chained into your bed with no hope of escape, I bet you know people who do things. You can help them do those things.

For example, take a look at patio11 on this site. He's built a whole business out of a simple tool he wrote in a few hours to help a teacher make bingo cards for her students, because making bingo cards is such a soul-sucking waste of time when humans do it. (To be clear, he's put a lot more time than that into building the program and the business over the years. But it only took a few hours of coding to solve the problem.)

[blaaah]

Ah, alright, I see what mean. So the general idea is to create something that will help make other people's lives easier?

[chc]

Yeah. It's a good way to come up with a concrete idea, and it has the benefit of, y'know, actually helping people. (And helping people sometimes has the benefit of turning into paying work in the future.)

[blaaah]

Awesome. Thanks for all the insight! I appreciate it.