as heartbreaking as it's been to realize that i no longer love the thing that used to bring me so much joy, i've found a lot of pleasure in more physical pursuits.

i picked up sewing (messenger bags, backpacks etc) with an industrial sewing machine - it's a real rabbit hole but i get a real, tangible reward for my hard work (something besides "hey cool, the blinkenlights do the thing now"). it's pretty amazing to assemble a physical good and then use it on a daily basis, and i've gotten to the point where i've even made bags for others who like my stuff.

it's not going to replace my tech career as far as paying the bills, but i get to use a lot of the same abstract mental tools (design, iteration, experimentation, learning from others and disassembling/reassembling things to learn how they work).