I've been working on my latest project for about 5 years (before that I spent 5 years on a project which ended in failure) with my latest project, the market has kept changing and I keep pivoting in subtle ways to stay relevant.

I've never raised any funding and I'm competing against really well funded startups so basically every few months, I see some other company implement my idea (ahead of me) and I have to keep refining the idea and narrowing my target market in order to stay competitive.

I managed to find some people to join the project so it's a bit better now but much of the weight is still on me.

I've experience the exact same thing. It becomes a cyclical rut of feeling like you're not making enough progress on a project, then feeling guilty for spending time enjoying other things. Thoughts like "why should I enjoy my sunday morning in the park? I could be working feature x".

My advice isn't for everyone, but I got over the rut by realizing we're not going to be young and healthy forever. The term YOLO has become epitomized with young people making stupid decisions but some of us should really take it to heart.

I read a piece about making life decisions based on a regret minimization framework. Essentially you ask yourself which life you'd regret least when you're 80 and that's what you should do. I asked myself whether I'd regret never launching a successful product more, or never living a fulfilling life with adventure and meaningful relationships.

On a more concrete note, it's important for me to schedule time for exercise and fun. It helps by keeping me productive and my brain healthy, but also you won't have that voice in your head saying "hey, you should really be working on that other feature right now".

Plus minus 2 weeks is not going to kill a 5 year old project. Take a little time, recharge and think about exiting sell / quit ect. You only have one life and burning 10 years for a nominal return is enough.

It's scary to think that with some minor alterations I could have written your previous two posts.

The worst thing is that deep down I enjoy the pressure even though I know it's slowly destroying my life and everything I love. I just seem to take it and turn to stone.

Please make a change and the addiction will wear off. Not easy, but worthwhile.

Sometimes in order to "speed up" (in the sense of a deep, longer-range goal) -- you need to slow down.

So like the others are saying -- I really hope you can take a vacation soon.