[jyrkesh]

> I realized this after experiencing burnout at 19, spending two years where I was capable of doing absolutely nothing traditionlly productive. Therefore, it's really surprising to me that a lot of supposedly older and wiser do this rat race for years, losing sight of the goal along the way.

This hit especially close to home for me. I'm 19 years old, in my second year of university, and looking to get into the industry within the next couple years. Even just finishing high school I was left with this emptiness: I had worked my ass off doing all kinds of crazy stuff--academic and otherwise--to get into a college of my choice, often getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night for weeks on end, only to start the whole thing over again right after I graduated.

I still work my ass off, deprive myself of sleep, overwork, etc, but I definitely see it all in the same context as you. It's short-term craziness for a benefit I want to see slightly down the road. And if it doesn't work out, I'm not going to force it. If you're not where you wanted to be at 35 by the time you're 40, maybe your plan wasn't the right one for you.

So yes, thank you for reminding me the point of all of this.