Ask HN: How do you figure out what you're passionate about?

Talk to people. Find out what interests them. You might pick up a really enjoyable hobby or two, or latch on to an exciting project. I can't imagine Jobs without Woz.

I didn't find my complement, but didn't mingle widely until later on, when jobs put me in contact with many.

A friend I met after changing coasts liked trains, but it was a good excuse to carpool to fishing locations near those lines. I couldn't fish worth a damn, but those were beautiful locations, and they revived my photographic bug.

Things do connect, but not in isolation. Hobbies, either by association, or just getting out, create opportunities.

I have 4.5 years of experience, but I am in the same situation as you. To be honest, I think I am in an even worse position. I do not sleep properly. Day in and day out, I keep asking myself What is the frontier work I want to do? What is the one field I truly want to enter and say, “This is where I want to work for the next 30 years of my life,” and fully commit to it?

Thinking about this has become an endless source of misery for me. Still, every day I take on some challenging work and start working on it, whether it interests me or not. If it does not, I switch. If the next thing does not work, I try harder again.

I have also started talking to more people and trying to find a group of highly ambitious people. One thing I have noticed about people who have succeeded is that they nailed two things. First, they found a direction. Second, they found an ambitious group that acted as an engine for them.

Time does not matter as much as direction does.

Take a vacation, and after a few days, think about what your mind naturally drifts to when there's nothing that you have to do in particular, and no special obligation. Maybe that will help point you in the right direction.

I'm in a similar situation. At my previous job, I burned out, and it led to some serious health problems. Now I don't even know what I want to do anymore. I was a software engineer for 20 years.