[jbarberu]

As others have suggested, be kind to yourself. Inspiration comes and goes, and the key is to ride it when it comes.

I used to feel a strong need to work on side project early in my career, that I had to keep up with trends and test out new languages (software developer by trade). Since having a kid I realized how precious little time I have and discovered the need to feel in control of what I spend it on. If I want to zone out one evening watching Youtube videos, that's ok, as long as I decide to do so.

Last year I had long periods of time where the only thing I'd do in my "me time" was reading. I plowed through most of Ryk Brown's Frontiers Saga (read 40 something books before summer), then completely stopped reading for the rest of the year and dove deep into teaching myself PCB design (made a SNES Macropad and put it on Tindie). Right now I've slipped into 3d printing and mechanical CAD, but the goal is to get back into electronics and tackle another keyboard design.

The key I think is to find projects that really interest you. Doing something in your spare time because you feel you "should" do them is a recipe for failure and misery. For me it was abandoning the idea that I'd learn to play the guitar and get fluent in Spanish, if I ever get a true passion for either there will always be time in the future.

One last thing to keep in mind is that what ends up on Hacker News is perhaps not your Average Joe. The internet is great for bringing people together, but it's easy to get sucked into a bubble thinking you have to be like John Carmack or you might as well give up.