It's Never Too Late to Be Successful and Happy
Okay, sure, but: many physical attributes, social perceptions, and pervasive mental habits probably <i>do</i> become <i>increasingly</i> solidified, even if fatalism about it is counterproductive. Sure, there&#x27;s plenty of late bloomers, but how many of them do you get from a broken late starting point, and how many do you get from people who worked slowly and methodically and <i>did the right slow things</i> earlier on, taking care of their minds, bodies, social connections, growing their resources, gaining experiences, broadening and&#x2F;or fine-tuning their abilities, and so on? Do fit&#x2F;rich&#x2F;popular&#x2F;etc. 35-year-olds regularly get there from a truly broken (including internally!) state at 31, or is it more that they actually took all the advice about regular exercise&#x2F;investing&#x2F;graciousness&#x2F;etc. back when they were 25, <i>kept</i> taking it, and maybe despaired in the moment about it not seeming to work while actually stacking up tons of invisible long-term bonuses?<p>I&#x27;m trying to come off about a decade of poor habits myself, due to a number of factors which are undoubtedly my responsibility but which it&#x27;s not clear whether I could have realistically avoided. I&#x27;ve had some minor successes but have never really stabilized so far, including in all the little things like the above. I don&#x27;t usually see this case handled clearly in the “it&#x27;s okay to be a late bloomer!” inspiration crowd. (More personally, it doesn&#x27;t help that the things I most want to do in life <i>probably</i> require being exceptional in specific ways that I&#x27;m not sure I can predict in advance and not just “successful” in a generic sort of way, and beyond a certain limited extent, I don&#x27;t consider the wanting-what-I-have approach to be a viable one (except insofar as having that attitude on the face of things may make it more likely to reach my original desires anyway).)<p>I&#x27;m trying to convince myself to try anyway and it&#x27;s hellishly difficult.