I have the same question. Sometimes it seems like everyone on HN is reading a non-fiction book, a fiction book, exercising regularly, has 2 kids, just defeated depression, is 2 weeks away from finishing their side project, and has a $150k/year job.
Reality is that most of the good tech people are super weak and out of shape. Parents are sleep deprived and just get a boost from coffee and post something optimistic, etc.
Some side project they spent 100 hours on is just some CRUD app. The non-fiction books are just pop psychology stuff with 5 pages of ideas and 100 pages of trite filler.
Just blaze your own path, live healthy, take idea from this awesome community. Never compare yourself though, at least anymore than a surface comparison.
Don't worry to much about the world, just keep moving forward :)
That said, in hacker news (like other social communities) people share the good parts and what they want to be recognized for. It is like believing that someone`s life is full of glory because they say so in Instagram or Facebook.