Sometimes I'm arguing on HN or imageboards etc. and I think that to wind down from it all, to realise the impermanence of it, it's good to meditate, noticing the thoughts that appear in your mind. No distractions, music etc.
(seriously, "bring back national service, but I don't have any facts" is a terrible argument for HN)
I think there are a lot of potential issues with service, but if you're feeling lost in life, at least you can pick up some habits that should help long term.
Military discipline would have been great for me because I would have had some functional baseline. Unfortunately, there is no analogue to "just join the military" for the disabled.
I read a lot of employment success stories similar to yours! Which is great, good to hear you're feeling better.
It does go to show that for some people, jobs (by giving community and a sense of purpose) are still very important and will probably continue to be, which means interesting times ahead.
The only thing that kept me from completely succumbing to it was my family's economic situation. I was something of a functional hikiki, drowning on the inside but putting on a normal mask for the outside world.
I think it won't ever go away and I will just have to manage it to the best of my ability.
i'm almost done with my bachelor's degree now (two weeks!), finally, at 28. i'm actually in the middle of writing a very long final essay about hikikomori for one of my classes this semester. go figure!
What dragged me out of this state was the one-two punch of getting a job and meeting a girl. Neither ended up being particularly good for me but they got me started again.
Now, though, I've boiled it down to 'pick a new goal, work towards that goal, achieve (or abandon) goal, repeat'. I was stuck on the idea that there was no 'right' choice, I've now realised that means there's no 'wrong' choice either, so I just do what I find to be most rewarding, which is building useful things.
Are you sure you are actually out of that malaise?
I mean, writing software can also very much feel like playing a game, and an even less social one perhaps.
Staring at a computer screen at work basically indicates that they are not hiki any more (although they probably still have some issues that will need some work before they would be considered mainstream).
I played a lot of online games, and they were my primary source of social interaction. To someone who doesn't understand how one can be social on the internet, it could have appeared that I was socially withdrawn, but I wasn't.
Like any condition though, the negative consequences have their own merit: playing video games most of the day doesn't usually lead to long term skills one can apply. If anything, I'm less social now that I have marketable skills :P
I lived with my parents playing WoW all night and sleeping all day. I had very few social interactions.
What dragged me into that lifestyle was the complete destruction of my ego. I was simply unprepared to live as an adult. It's not much of a surprise I couldn't cope. In high-school I was coddled for being smart and never developed a work ethic. College hit me like a sack of bricks.
I'm sure there are myriad reasons why people choose to withdraw from society; my case is merely a personal anecdote. Nonetheless I think my case is not a rare exception.
Ultimately what pulled me out of that malaise was successful employment in a software company. It was only after I recovered a sense of self worth that I could finally step out of my cave.