Back in 2001, I was living in a small village half an hour drive from the city. We thought living in the country will be fantastic. I had a great job, working for a US company. Super-hard and very interesting projects, I could come and leave the work as I please. Then, 9/11 happened and all investors disappeared. My pay was cut in half. At the same time, had to go to the army (I chose civil service to pay that out), so I could only work half-time on my job - another half of my pay went away. Suddenly this was unsustainable, and I had a pregnant wife. My solution - no problem, I will start my own business.
While it all worked out well in the end, the next year was terrible. I would leave the house at 6:15AM, be at the civil service until 3PM. Then go to the job and work until 8PM. Then go home and work on the side project until 2AM. Relationship with my wife deteriorated to the point of almost no return as I was overstressed and impossible to live with. We constantly struggled with debt. And my brain fried from overwork and lack of sleep. People would speak to me and I would not remember it after 5 minutes. It took a lot of time to get back to normal afterwards.
In hindsight, starting a side project was a terrible decision for that time. I should have made sure to safeguard the health of the family. We should have moved back to the city. We could have moved to live with my parents for a while. Anything would be better than the path I took, in my arrogance and need to provide for my family the way I decided is the way to go. The same financial independence would come, with far less stress, if I stopped to reevaluate what can be done - and talked with my wife more. When someone asks me for advice, I always say - do not risk everything for the chance of success. With family, it's family first.