A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conqueror.

Early, unconditional backing tends to install a quiet confidence that behaves like a fact rather than an opinion. Somebody who was believed in without qualification expects to be welcomed, and that expectation does much of the work later, since people generally treat you the way you appear to assume you will be treated.

If nobody gave you that, it is not a life sentence, though the rebuilding is slower and more deliberate. It comes from evidence you assemble yourself, and from a few people who are genuinely on your side. And if you have children, or anyone young looking to you, that steady backing is the cheapest and most durable thing you can hand over.