The goal can change and you still didn’t waste the years. Skills transfer even when dreams don’t.

When a plan ends, the time you spent inside it does not disappear with it. The specific dream was only ever the container, and what you built in there was discipline, reading people, handling pressure, finishing things. Those travel anywhere. The loss is real and the waste is usually imagined.

If something you aimed at has fallen through, write down five things you can do now that you could not do before it. Keep them concrete, down to small abilities. Then look at where those same abilities would be useful next, instead of assuming you are starting from zero.