Just to throw my two cents in: I went through something similar way before generative ai. As in, had to face losing my lifelong passion and let go. Years of depression and losing contacts happened. Similarly, it was music. I was wrappingbup my bachelor’s degree in musicology in university when this happened. The kick in the balls for me was realizing I wasn’t nearly good enough to make it as a musician and would’ve been doing either academia or notating or something else less creative than actually creating music, for salary. Felt crushing and it was a process that gradually culminated over years ultimately, throwing me into a downward spiral. Well, it took me a few years to recover and battle back. Lost people in the process, not because of anything substantial, simply depression making me feel and think as you are writing here. I’d like to offer some nuggets of wisdom borne from experience: I think for a lot of what you say, it’s the depression talking. The people you lose, you didn’t have to, but right now it feels as if you did, and you do. You can come back from that. I did. You can also come back from losing the passion, the lifelong dream and enthusiasm. The spark that kept you alive through everything. You can find a new one. It’s not the end. I did; I found myself spending a lot of time indoors during my depression years, so I naturally picked up games for the first time in my life really, and with them, modding. This evolved to programming in general, and eventually an engineering degree. And a new passion, new dreams, new reasons to live and breathe, something to belong to and create. I’ve recently had to start adjusting my expectations with it too, for much the same concrete reasons you are battling with here, but this time it seems much easier to let go. Not as catastrophic. All-consuming. And I know there’ll be a next thing eventually that’ll be my new home of enthusiasm. All to say, don’t lose hope. You’ll get through it and find new things. Life will go on. You’ll get through this, you’ll learn from