Life is half spent before we know what it is.

Understanding arrives late. You spend the early stretch learning the rules of a game already underway, and by the time the shape of it comes clear, a good deal of it is behind you. That is not a failure of attention; there was no way to know sooner. The knowledge had to be bought with the years.

Rather than grieve the part spent finding your footing, put what you have learned to work on what remains. Name one thing you now understand that you did not understand at twenty. Let it change a single decision this week.