What Your Feed Isn't Showing You

It's December 31st, 2025.

Scroll through LinkedIn, Twitter, or any tech forum today and you'll see the highlight reels: "How I built a $10M ARR startup in 8 months with AI," screenshots of MRR dashboards, funding announcements, product launches. The AI gold rush is real, and everyone's racing.

I'm part of this world too. I build. I ship. I stay up late debugging agents and crafting demos. The excitement is genuine—we're living through a technological inflection point that comes once in a generation.

But here's what's not making it to your feed:

The founder who developed chronic back pain from 14-hour desk marathons. The developer whose anxiety peaked because "everyone else seems to be shipping faster." The young engineer who can't remember the last home-cooked meal because Swiggy became a lifestyle. The community builder who skipped that health checkup—again—because there was always one more conference, one more deadline.

I've been there. Many of us have.

The Uncomfortable Truth

We celebrate revenue milestones but not sleep schedules. We share our GitHub streaks but not our step counts. We post about product-market fit but stay silent about mental health struggles.

The internet has created a strange culture where showing your bank balance is normal, but talking about your blood pressure feels awkward.

Young people are watching. They're absorbing the message that success means sacrifice—specifically, sacrificing your health on the altar of hustle. And that's a dangerous lesson.

What I've Learned (Often the Hard Way)

Your startup can pivot. Your health cannot always recover.

That deadline? It will pass. But the damage from months of poor sleep, skipped meals, and ignored stress signals accumulates quietly until it doesn't.

A few things I wish someone had told me earlier:

On Food:

• That quick bite between meetings isn't fuel—it's just filling a gap. Real nutrition requires intention.
• Cooking a simple meal isn't "wasting time." It's an act of self-respect.
• Your gut health affects your brain. That "mental fog" might just be last week's junk food talking.

On Balance:

• Productivity isn't linear. Rest makes you sharper, not lazier.
• The most creative solutions often come during walks, not during the fifth hour of staring at a screen.
• "I'll focus on health after this launch" is a lie we tell ourselves. There's always another launch.

On Perspective:

• No investor, no customer, no follower will care about your health as much as you should.
• The people who love you want you present and well—not just successful.
• Building something meaningful includes building a life worth living.

A Gentle Challenge for 2026

I'm not saying stop building. The AI wave is exciting, and there's real value in what we're creating.

But what if we also normalized:

• Posting about that morning walk alongside the product update?
• Celebrating the meal we cooked as much as the feature we shipped?
• Admitting when we're burned out instead of performing constant productivity?
• Checking in on each other beyond "how's the startup going?"

What if health wins became as share-worthy as revenue wins?

To the Young Builders

If you're in your 20s reading this, chasing the dream, fueled by ambition and energy drinks—please hear this:

Your energy feels infinite right now. It isn't.

The habits you build today compound just like your skills do. Invest in both.

The founders you admire who "made it"? Many of them will tell you privately about the health price they paid. Some are still paying it.

You can build something extraordinary AND take care of yourself. These aren't opposing forces. In fact, sustainable success requires both.

Closing Thought

As 2025 ends, I'm not making a resolution to "hustle harder" or "10x my output."

I'm resolving to cook more meals at home. To walk without podcasts sometimes. To get that checkup I've been postponing. To remember that I'm building FOR a life, not instead of one.

The tech world doesn't need another burnout story disguised as a success story.

It needs more of us to say: health matters. Balance matters. You matter—beyond your output.

Here's to building great things in 2026—and being well enough to enjoy them.

Happy New Year. Take care of yourself.