After I exited my last business, it took me 3 years to finally get up to feeling ready again. I also went to a dark place for a while. My best advice is to keep your head up and think more about the present than the future, at least for a little while. Keep yourself busy and avoid things that feel too cumbersome or dreadful. Exercise and treat your body well.

In between battling depression and anxiety over the years, I started doodling things again. Those doodles turned into thought experiments, into reading research papers, into connecting into a new field. I'm feeling more energized these days about starting something new, and more excited about working on a startup again.

I wish there was some way I could have avoided falling into the emotional abyss and spending so many years there. Maybe I should have focused on building more friendships over the years instead of being a loner. You really start to take for granted such things until the isolation of failure sinks in. Hopefully this time I will find a co-founder willing to go to felt with me. I'm not sure I can endure another solo fail.