As a programmer, it is easy to encase yourself into a kind of bubble of creativity in which nothing else exists except the problem you are trying to solve at that moment. I have spent days in such bubbles and nothing, not even eating, could really drag me all the way out.

When you are single, you can get away with extended periods in the programming "bubble". However, once you get married and have children, staying in the bubble is no longer an option. Your wife and kids need your attention, so all you can do is kind of poke your head into the bubble for a few hours at a time at most. This is very difficult to do, poking your head into and out of the bubble. It takes discipline to pull yourself away from a difficult programming problem and I am not very successful in doing it so far.