You make some good points, but I'd disagree that it's too late when you're 45+ to regain your creative spark. Regaining your creative spark requires being honest with yourself, tolerating the frustration that comes from your output not living up to your vision, and being willing to try new things to see what sticks. The social disapproval aspect you pick up on is secondary, creativity doesn't have to be shared and even if it does it's unnecessary for your audience to know who you are, if you choose to release your output without disclosing your identity.
It really annoys me when I see people trying to limit what others can do based on the number of times someone has been around the sun. If you are physically and mentally able, then it's all just time and effort.
You make some good points, but I'd disagree that it's too late when you're 45+ to regain your creative spark.
Maybe it's not about "too late", but I think it gets a lot harder to change yourself as you get older. If you're on a good track, you're more likely to stay on a good track; the same for the less-than-good tracks. Creative people will continue to gain creative competence, which is why most peak in their 50s-- it takes a long time to get good-- but I think that someone who voluntarily gives his creativity up, in order to become a social climber, if he hasn't reclaimed it by middle age, probably won't.
There are a lot of people who go into banking and consulting expecting to cash out, retire young, and become novelists or philosophers. Very few of those actually do it.
> There are a lot of people who go into banking and consulting expecting to cash out, retire young, and become novelists or philosophers. Very few of those actually do it.
There are lots of people who don't go into banking because they want to write a novel first. Very few of those people actually do it either.
Perhaps we are talking about different scenarios. From what I'm reading (correct me if I'm wrong), you're talking about people who stop being creative and never recover the urge to be creative again. The scenario I have in mind are people who stop being creative, and find when they want to be creative again they don't know how to do it. There's a subtle difference, and it comes down to honesty. If someone is honest about their intentions, then what I'm saying is there's a process they can follow to rebuild their creative senses. If they're not truly committed then there's not much point discussing what comes out of that half-arsed intention.
That being said, there are plenty of people (myself included), that use these dreams to get them through the drudgery of their working day. Giving hope to those without has merit, but it's worth even more when pursued.
It really annoys me when I see people trying to limit what others can do based on the number of times someone has been around the sun. If you are physically and mentally able, then it's all just time and effort.