I think the point is you have to really think about what in life is really going to make you happy or, at the end of the road, what you won't regret having done; and have the courage to stick with it even though it seems you may be losing out somewhere else. Focusing on adventure or travel may feel like one is missing out on the "American Dream" for some but maybe not for others.

As we grow we learn to mature and make adjustments for the more subtle things that also matter like community, family etc... but I think it works best when we come from a place of fulfillment rather than obligation. At least that has been my experience.

I'd had a pretty good life already when I met my (future) wife and step son and felt good adjusting to sharing it with them. This is a vastly different feeling than my father's. He had three kids, dyslexia and, as a result, drove a tow truck all the time in order to provide for his family. Never home and when he was often tired and grumpy which we did not understand as kids but I totally get as an adult. I see his life as a study in obligation rather than intention, though meeting obligation was a very determined intention on his part. Good man and good example to me in both ways of being.

In some cases we can't anticipate what we have to adjust to but I certainly get Max's desire to look ahead and sculpt his life in the ways he can.

I think about how lucky I was in some ways when I was young. My kids are so into modern "culture" that they spend all their time and money on clothes, phones, socially "connecting", etc... there's no time or money for doing anything else!

I wore crappy clothes, had a quarter in my pocket for the pay phone yet could dedicate everything else to my pursuits. At the same time it wasn't just simple. We all have our issues; some wear them on the outside, some on the inside. I rarely mention it but I was on the street and in rehab by 19 and have had to negotiate a drug/alcohol free life since then (20's, 30's, 40's 50's). No complaints but not always "easy". Like my fathers example, that "issue" helped me become very intentional about how I wanted to live my life.