I think self-awareness can be a really positive tool to break yourself out of restrictive situations and thought patterns that may be causing you harm. I’ve found this to be true in my own life, with journaling in particular being one of the most beneficial kinds of self reflection. It’s gotten me out of bad relationships, living situations, and addictions.
That said, self-awareness that stares at a wall of things-you-can’t-actually-change can definitely be depressing.
VSCode! I’m yet to find another editor that runs as smoothly on remote machines. Zed has been getting much better at this, but it’s still too buggy to consider a switch.