Men may rise on stepping-stones of their dead selves to higher things.

Every version of you that stopped working becomes material for the next one. The job that went nowhere, the belief you no longer hold, the person you were at twenty five: those were not wasted years but the ground the current one is standing on. Something has to be finished with before the next thing has anywhere to rest.

If you are between versions at the moment, it will mostly feel like loss rather than progress, and that is normal rather than a sign of failure. Name plainly what the old version taught you that you still use. Then take one step that only makes sense for the person you are becoming.