First year of the pandemic I was job-less and filled all that time with being out in the nature, studying (programming) and working on my side projects. Then I got my first junior position about six months ago, and now I am struggle with not having time or energy to do my own things anymore. Maybe the answer isn't working 40 hours? But even then, those 8hrs at home or at the office just don't sit right with me. I really do want to quit my job, get back to being in the nature, learning more about programming/CS and just working on side projects as I please. But that is not paying the bill, and I don't have that much of a buffer. I think I may take a 6-month breather though to re-orientate myself.