The joy of being a musician 'of a certain age'

Basically, you've got nothing to prove. You wanted to make it, you tried to make, you didn't make it. Now what? You can do one of two things – give up, or carry on. It's that simple.

You probably started making music – it was a few mates and some cheap gear in my bedroom for me – for the sheer fun of it. You remember that, don't you? The sheer fun of doing something? You didn't do it because you wanted to meet girls (or boys). You didn't do it because you wanted to be rich. You didn't do it because you wanted to be famous. If any of that happened it was a happy side-effect, but it wasn't your original motivation.