| I don't know if this helps you (hope it does), but I won't assume what fixed me has to fix you. I was in just the same position. I adored programming and built my life and self-esteem around my achievements in coding, but I ended up depressed and feeling isolated. My health was also not ideal and I could see issues on the horizon stemming from a poor diet and sitting hunched up in front of a monitor for most of my working hours. Upon recommendations of family, I joined a gym. I freaking hated it and felt like a fish out of water. I lasted about 10 days and then bailed out. My small stint trying a gym had left me with a pair of running shoes. So I decided I would try and go out and run early on a Sunday morning around the block near my house. This way if I needed to stop and walk I could do so. Turns out I did in fact stop and walk (quite early on), but I managed to get around the block twice. I then tried again the next day, and it was much of the same, however something magical happened. My very poor attempt at running became gamified. I hit the internet and started reading up on how to get better at running and then all of a sudden a whole world opened up around the technicalities of running. After just a week or two I started to see improvement from tracking on smart watch. Weeks then turned into months and I started to improve, my weight started to drop and I felt my confidence build. For me personally running worked great for my depression. It then all escalated from there. I did a park run, met other runners and started to become part of a running community. Now I have so many friends through running its unreal. My career choice is also paying off hugely as WFH as a developer means I get to really manage my time around running out on the trials. |