For me it feels like at some point, I stopped feeling like I could throw myself into hobbies that require real engagement. Long video games, deep dive coding, instrument practice sessions, etc.
Once I got a job, partner, and pets, at any moment something can demand my attention. Enough times of having to abandon a multiplayer game, break concentration, break my flow, and at some point I just started choosing to do things that have zero commitment. I still play games, but only ones that I feel I can drop at a moment's notice and don't require practice. Music is a faint echo of the presence it used to be in my life. The only thing I still get to do every single day is code, because I have to do it in order to live.
I also feel the loss of the "third spaces" in my life. It used to be a few select hangout spots with my friends, then it was the rest of the college campus. I've lived in a car dependent hellscape my entire life and it only got worse when I moved to the US capital of suburban sprawl for work. None of my friends live within ten miles of me anymore.
Once I got a job, partner, and pets, at any moment something can demand my attention. Enough times of having to abandon a multiplayer game, break concentration, break my flow, and at some point I just started choosing to do things that have zero commitment. I still play games, but only ones that I feel I can drop at a moment's notice and don't require practice. Music is a faint echo of the presence it used to be in my life. The only thing I still get to do every single day is code, because I have to do it in order to live.
I also feel the loss of the "third spaces" in my life. It used to be a few select hangout spots with my friends, then it was the rest of the college campus. I've lived in a car dependent hellscape my entire life and it only got worse when I moved to the US capital of suburban sprawl for work. None of my friends live within ten miles of me anymore.