It is difficult in our status oriented society to not compare outcomes.

When in that mode, it is clear I have failed grotesquely.

It was only through extreme frugality and very lucky timing that I ended up with a nice house.

Even then there was a brush with loan defaults and bankruptcy on the path from graduate to home-loan owner.

Maybe I’ve been lying to myself. Maybe I don’t want to ride a bicycle. Maybe I’m just a fearful poor guy. I’ve tried to make a virtue out of my frugality, which might be just a positive spin on failure.

Onecan be a failure and still enjoy the general wreckage of it all.