Here's my 30-something perspective. It's mostly settled for 10 years now with little change, as I'm very happy with it.
I decided then what should be my guiding principle: build things, and don't become mainly a consumer of things.
That's very vague on purpose: "build things" can refer to writing, photography, build gizmos with electronics, inventing cocktails, woodworking, games theorycrafting, repairing broken stuff, and obviously developing things (that's my profession). Those have all been hobby of mine at some point, ranging from a few months to several years. I generally loose interest once I've learned enough or feel like it's starting to get repetitive or there is no way to progress without being a professional. And that's okay, those are hobbies.
Not being main a consumer doesn't mean never playing games, watching shows or socializing, but it does mean I'd rather not spend all my time on those. If I find myself spending too much time on those, I try to kick myself in the butt to build something instead.
Another decision was that I wanted to be my main job to be for societal good, and not a meaningless or morally questionable job. That means, for me, no banking, defense, ads at least. Despite not wanting to create a company, I ended up creating one (luckily when I was younger and had more energy and free time). Nowadays, I consider myself a regular employee with a weird "founder" status. This leaves me enough time to engage with whatever building I fancy at the moment.
As a consequence of those choices, there are a few things I had to make peace with: I'm never going to be really rich, I will stay firmly in the middle class (dev is a good position, but doesn't pay as much as in the states here). I will never be famous, I won't become an entrepreneur or businessman. Frankly, it's really okay: I don't want the stress associated with those, I'd rather have a happy life I can enjoy.
Finding people who share these values are a huge boon. Owners of companies who want people to just enjoy the work and not rat-racing or having the latest fad to worry about is very liberating.
I would say that I have followed just about this same path or very similar and if I had to rank my life and happiness on a scale I would give it at least a 7 or 8 out of 10 with 10/10 being unlimited money/choices, etc.
I feel that consumerism is a big and seductive trap that too many fall into, and it is quite easy to unknowingly fall way in.
I decided then what should be my guiding principle: build things, and don't become mainly a consumer of things.
That's very vague on purpose: "build things" can refer to writing, photography, build gizmos with electronics, inventing cocktails, woodworking, games theorycrafting, repairing broken stuff, and obviously developing things (that's my profession). Those have all been hobby of mine at some point, ranging from a few months to several years. I generally loose interest once I've learned enough or feel like it's starting to get repetitive or there is no way to progress without being a professional. And that's okay, those are hobbies.
Not being main a consumer doesn't mean never playing games, watching shows or socializing, but it does mean I'd rather not spend all my time on those. If I find myself spending too much time on those, I try to kick myself in the butt to build something instead.
Another decision was that I wanted to be my main job to be for societal good, and not a meaningless or morally questionable job. That means, for me, no banking, defense, ads at least. Despite not wanting to create a company, I ended up creating one (luckily when I was younger and had more energy and free time). Nowadays, I consider myself a regular employee with a weird "founder" status. This leaves me enough time to engage with whatever building I fancy at the moment.
As a consequence of those choices, there are a few things I had to make peace with: I'm never going to be really rich, I will stay firmly in the middle class (dev is a good position, but doesn't pay as much as in the states here). I will never be famous, I won't become an entrepreneur or businessman. Frankly, it's really okay: I don't want the stress associated with those, I'd rather have a happy life I can enjoy.