The Art of Blooming Late

In his teens and early twenties, Mozart had to work as an organist and concertmaster in his native Salzburg to make ends meet. Though a celestial genius, he     1     like a mere mortal. Underpaid and unfulfilled, he felt a(n)     2     desire to devote more time and energy to his art. So after a period of doubt and deliberation, that’s exactly what he did. He quit his job and embarked on what turned out to be the most productive and creative period of his life.

Even if you never hope to reach Mozart’s level of mastery, you may relate to his need to break free from     3    . Maybe you’ve done everything right—     4     at school, worked hard, and landed a good, high-paying job—but you’re tired of being just like everyone else. Maybe you yearn to do more personally fulfilling work, like founding a start-up or turning a hobby into a full-fledged career.

However, drafting a plan of action can be daunting. What, then, is holding you back? Rich Karlgaard, the publisher of Forbes magazine and author of Late Bloomers, argues that our culture’s     5     with early achievement discourages us from pursuing our passions. Instead of having varied interests, studying widely, and taking our time—     6     for self-discovery—we’re encouraged to ace tests, become specialists right away, and pursue safe, stable, and lucrative careers. As a result, most of us end up choosing professional excellence over personal fulfillment, and often we lose ourselves in the process.

To prompt a revolution in your own life, there are a few things to keep in mind. First and foremost, it’s never too late to “become” yourself. Aristotle, for example, didn’t fully devote himself to writing and philosophy until he was nearly 50. There are also benefits to taking a long,     7     path to self-fulfillment. Remember that age     8     brings wisdom ,resilience, self-knowledge, and creativity. Citing the work of developmental psychologist Erik Erikson, Karlgaard writes, those “ages 40 to 64 constitute a unique period where one’s creativity and experience combine with a universal human longing to make our lives     9    .”

That said, once you’ve decided to embark on the journey, it may take years, if not longer, to reach your destination. But as research has shown, small daily changes can have a compound effect and slowly but     10     lead you closer to the person you think you ought to be.

Studies have shown that the love children have for sugar may be innate. The preference for sweet foods is found to be already     1     in newborns, who prefer sweeter formulas (配方奶). There's further evidence that kids' taste buds are more sensitive to bitter-tasting foods, further pushing them to     2     for the sweets.

One study showed that adults tend to max out their sugar preference at about the level of sugar in a can of soda, but older children still liked drinks that were twice as sweet. The scientists couldn't find a limit to the     3     of sugar younger children preferred. It turns out that the kids still liked the sugary drink even past the point where there was too much sugar to be     4     in water anymore.

In the times of early humans, those who ate the most calories had a better shot at survival and thus at passing on their genes. Fruit, the most     5     natural source of sugar, could provide more energy than other sources of food, like vegetables, but was     6     scarce. So some scientists suggest that those early humans that ate the most fruit lived longer and had more babies. Those future generations may have then     7     to crave that sugary fruit as an important part of their survival.

Now, of course, sugar is no longer scarce and we     8     it in much larger quantities than the occasional rare fruit. So, in the evolutionary game of survival of the fittest, the fittest isn't     9     the one with the most sweets anymore.

Will we start to adapt to our new, easy     10     to refined sugars and eventually stop craving them? Perhaps, but that kind of evolution takes time.