[Cody_C]

Generally when this happens it is because of context. You are clearly setting out to have fun and searching for the joy you did find originally. Most of the time this context is either the problem space, team/political issues or the random tooling in the ecosystem that complicates a solution for better or worse.

I'd say your best bet is find something cool you would like to build. Ideally, there will be some part you have to deeply focus on a tech problem that will require you to stop thinking about anything else and really immerse yourself. This would count even if it is only a few hours.

I've found it fun and useful to have a small list of tools/utils or mini projects that I could use day to day or even something I could just randomly say I built. It is also usually the case that for tech people the most joy comes from the idea and early stages of creation and then finally shipping it. I'd say it would be best to have one or two small projects you can definitely wrap up instead of a massive one that becomes a drudge.

Also focus on truly how much power we have with computers. It is one of the only disciplines where the biggest and almost only limitation is what you can imagine and design.