Comment by Kye

You did a speed run of what people discover when they work their entire life for retirement, get there, and realize they don't know what they were working for.

Retirement

F-U money ("FIRE" in modern parlance I guess)

Save n dollars

It's all the same: too abstract. That you were able to discover it now with plenty of life left and plenty of resources to figure it out is worth more than the money.

Personally, I always try to keep enough saved to replace my computer all at once if it dies on me. If I lose that, it's hard to pursue my hobbies and interests while trying to figure out which parts of them I can sell without losing what made them interesting in the first place.

For what to do with it, I found it helpful to pick a hobby, any hobby, and pursue it for a year. You probably have a lot of these left. For me: One for music. One for photography. One for writing (fiction). One for writing (nonfiction). All the skills complement each other. I'm about to pull the trigger on buying a set of tools for recording podcasts and audiobooks to help deal with my significant speaking anxiety. The skills from the writing and music eras are especially helpful here!

This process started back in 2017 when I found myself with no steering or engine power on my way into a turn lane in the rain and fog. I'm glad your existential crisis didn't start with a near death experience!