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Comment by brainless | Hacker News Reader

Staying away from the startup hustle and city life.

I have been constantly disturbed by the chase in the startup system. Building up something out of own passion is one thing, but trying to act like the investor-led founders has been driving me crazy for years.

I live a village life now, do much less software work. Have dialed down my ambitions and I am actually very happy. I do feel that my skills, acquired over 15 years, are less used, but that regret does not last long when I take a trip around the neighboring hills (I live in a Himalayan territory).

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Yep. I moved to SF for a bit over a year, at the behest of my previous employer (which wanted me to work out of their HQ). Probably the most stressful period of my life, both financially and emotionally. Yeah, it was fun for the first couple weeks, but once the novelty wore off I was just left feeling claustrophobic and imprisoned.

I moved back to Reno right at the start of 2020, and it was an immediate change for the better. Less financial stress, and much easier/quicker to escape the city. And this is even amid COVID; I strongly suspect once the stress of an ongoing pandemic subsides I'll be fully back in my "zone", so to speak.

How do you sustain this dialed down ambition? Community? Physical labor? Every time I read HN or watch youtube my ambition goes up. And I tried to retire last year but my mind is still restless.

> Every time I read HN or watch youtube my ambition goes up

As the old joke goes, don't do that then.

You say you tried to retire; you must have had a previous big push to follow your ambitions in your life. Did that work out well or badly?

I worked a dead end pharmacy job for 9 years and saved hard. I never actually pursued the ambition, if that makes sense, as they were more fantasies than anything else. So maybe moreso FOMO and jealousy (and also fear of losing everything).

I am just guessing here. Have you acted upon your ambitions yet, or do you get overwhelmed and depressed everytime the ambition shoots up (could be due of other startups, HN, friends, YouTube, anything)?

My guess is that most people when the latter happens n number of times(n being the threshold), they breakdown. It's very difficult to know if it is a want or a want-to-want, or a have-to-want. But you can be sure that if the latter is happening, it is never a want, it is always either a want-to-want, or a have-to-want. Once you realise that, I think it will be easier to realise what you really want.

Probably more of a want-to-want. I have a few days of motivation and then succumb to procrastination when I realize (surprise) that nothing is easy and it's all hard work.

I am learning woodworking. I have been thinking of this for many years. I do still get inspired by what others are doing but I have accepted that I have too much anxiety or related issues to run an investor led startup. It is a conscious choice and I am happy with it.

I hear you. I may do something similar. Like buying cheap land and building a tiny house on it by hand. And eventually joining a co-living community in Austria.

Just out of curiosity: whereabouts in the Himalayas are you located? We've been looking for nice places off the beaten path and are always looking for inspiration.

I live in Sikkim. Temi to be more accurate, it is a small village. It is just below a well-known tea estate. If you search for Temi Tea, Sikkim, you will get a good idea. The tea is one of the best export quality tea from India.

Looks like a wonderful place! How I wish that people from outside of Sikkim could acquire property there - it's one of our favourite states in India.

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