[petercooper]

I had a conversation with a few of my friends that got me really reconsidering a lot of this. One of them asked me, "What do you like spending your time doing?" To be honest, my favorite thing to do is be with other people.

I just want to balance out your generally awesome response by noting that they may not be wired in a way that your comment is good advice (despite it probably being so for 90%+ of people) and that that's OK if they want it to be.

Now in my 30s, I don't regret a single second spent geeking out or learning things on my own earlier in life, but I do regret the mental anguish of thinking I "should" do X or "must" do Y because "that's what normal/healthy/sane/whatever people do." It just turns out I'm introverted and love a lot of time alone working. Now I'm thriving having embraced that. (I'm happily married, have a kid and large family too, so I'm not a Hikikomori or anything ;-))

[zumda]

Just to pile on another "me too" here. I fully agree that you should limit what you do, no matter what. I, for example, always tend to overdo things. For example I once was heavily into Starcraft 2, but played so much that after just 2 weeks I had enough and haven't touched it since.

Limiting yourself can be refreshing and ensure that we will still like the things we do in 10 years.

And beeing also a fellow introvert, I have to say, not geeking around on the PC doesn't have to mean going out with friends (though it should occasionally... ;)). There are a lot of great books and websites out there with fantastic content. For example I never knew so much about the whole skeptics movement (and the science behind it) without limiting myself from geeking out.

Limiting yourself can be a great thing!

[petercooper]

I fully agree that you should limit what you do, no matter what. I, for example, always tend to overdo things.

Luckily I don't have this problem anymore. Being married and having a daughter means there's at least several hours a day I'm chasing people around, changing nappies, cleaning the house or going out and about. Makes going back to work quite the pleasure in a way ;-)