I talk very little about myself on SS, or IRL for that matter--since it really doesn't matter. It's not what I hinge my self-worth on and, in the past, I was narcissistic and dependent on external validation and was always viewing myself in comparison to other people in an attempt to
feel superior. I've seen firsthand the kind of epic & highly cyclical destruction that paradigm often results in. My personal life also isn't an area where I need feedback--my day to day is pretty sweet and I'm not looking for internet high fives or specific advice on handling my personal life (though I find a ton of value in other people's perspectives on this forum and have benefited from assimilating those viewpoints into my life). Whether anyone here thinks I'm some nerdy keyboard jockey living in my mom's basement or some high rolling player, doesn't change the validity of what I post--try any of it out for yourself if it resonates with you and if it doesn't, well, you should probably try it on for size anyway
What I take exception to is when people try to force
their own limited & often flawed paradigms onto other people, especially when my firsthand knowledge has shown me that those paradigms aren't beneficial and result in more unhappiness and less freedom than in greater happiness and more freedom. I think it's great that you're still kicking it at 46; that's fvcking sweet & is something that should offer hope to the younger guys here by disproving the faulty paradigm that:
Youth is everything--and you'll quickly age out of the dating game with hot young girls and if you don't lock one up now...
However, you attribute your success with women to another faulty paradigm:
That women are specifically and consistently attracted to a resume list of specific past accomplishments according to the societally pre-approved narrative. Not that those past accomplishments weren't worthwhile in and of themselves (I hope). But you like to beat your chest about HAVING SPENT THE PAST COUPLE DECADES
QUALIFYING YOURSELF FOR THE AFFECTION OF WOMEN--and beating your chest that guys like me should do likewise or should compete with you within that paradigm.
But the truth is, those same women you take to four star hotels have fvcked deadbeat musicians or a jock in high school who will only ever make $15 an hour working HVAC the rest of his life or the bouncer at their favorite bar or the guy who rushed the right frat with daddy's money or a thug who happened to have access to coke. You can't use women's valuation of yourself--or especially the things they say specifically to appeal to your ego for continued benefit--as any accurate measure of your self worth in comparison to other guys, because by that measure there are any number of guys that are your equal who didn't work hard for 26 years to fvck those girls. Your ego will rack itself with cognitive dissonance and status anxiety, which is PAINFUL. Status anxiety will compel you to qualify yourself to other people, even anonymous guys on the internet like
@fastlife, which lowers your value and will cause you to fail sh1t tests; status anxiety will compel you to
compete with other guys who have no interest in competing with you & tool yourself out--but your ego won't stand that cognitive dissonance and will spin rationalization like,
Well, it's just because I'm SOOO successful. He was just jealous--that's it. People are just jealous, instead of using introspection to see if possibly you pushed those people away or turned them off and to possibly avoid those unproductive actions in the future.
Being good with women is a specific skill that can be developed and improved and might or might not have anything to do with what you've accomplished with your life. But how might you have lived differently if you developed those skills and developed confidence independent of lifelong endeavors toward financial success? How would you live differently in the future if you made that realization. Of course, society will be happy to tell you to be the workhorse--and guys like you will tell guys on the internet (a lot of whom probably can't see any other alternate paradigms due to inexperience and a lack of exposure), "Man up and work hard, son. And someday you, too, might have a hot girl on your arm," when really you can have hot girls on your arms
without putting in the hard work. That's just the way it is. So if you're inclined to hustle, DO IT FOR YOURSELF & FOR YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOURSELF.
