While I appreciate the pep talk, I think it's worth mentioning that while
you personally might be well off, the same is not true for the majority of the Earth's human population, including pretty much my entire family. Even in the bastion of human rights, example for the world to follow and the biggest exporter of democracy - the US - most people die poor and miserable... And continuous population growth, greatly outpacing the rate at which few renewable resources can renew themselves, is not particularly conductive to the happiness and well-being of the future generations.
So pep talks are all good...but coming from someone of your standing they sound patronising at best, and disconnected from reality at worst. I am not doubting that you didn't mean to come across like that, but please be aware that it's an impression you can easily produce.
Now, points:
V: What were your plans, your dreams for life? It really doesn't matter what others think of you, outlander4. If you learn just one lesson from being here it should be that you're the only one who can brand you a failure.
I want to become a writer. Having hard time actually implementing it. My other activities include science (a Ph.D in environmental microbiology/bioremediation), work (I make mead, and people say it's good), photography (that photo of mine is an autoportrait, taken on an old Soviet film camera and digitised afterwards), and a great deal of smaller hobbies. I don't give a damn about what other people think of me, which makes me do all those things but also makes my social life rather scarce.
V: Hopefully, you still have one thing that is precious in this life...time. That gift of time which you can choose to use wisely or not.
Exactly, my problem is in wasting it too much. Spreading too thin. Being lazy. Always waiting for inspiration. But it's ok, I'll deal with it somehow, don't worry on my account.
V: It's such a brief existence we have in this realm, why fill your mind with imagined terrors?
I don't. I accept the sad reality of the situation, and I try making the best out of it, try turning failures into cornerstones of the future success. Imagined terrors are for my writing, where they become real