Comment by fy20

I'm in basically the same situation, although not quite 40. My ACE score is 1 or 2 - I didn't have a very traumatic childhood, but I was an only child and my parents were never really mentally present for me. My parents themselves had a pretty traumatic childhood and early adult life.

I went through my 20s by keeping my self busy with work and side-projects. I guess "high functional depressive" is the term. Financially I've done pretty well - changing jobs often has some perks. Working for early stage startups you can avoid a lot of the corporate BS which has become my niche.

The hardest part of life has been since I had kids. Trying to be present for them, and not making the same mistakes as my parents.