does one ever matter and what matters at one time, does it differ greatly from the other times?

these questions have been bothering me lately as in my mind i lay out an imaginary race among my peers with our accomplishments and material wealth as indicators of who leads. going in circles, i cannot exactly determine the starting line or the finish, and as time moves forward the objects collected that seemed like trophies before seem to weigh the runners down as the next lap begins.

for example, if you explode onto the scene, make a name for yourself early, like a child actor or an early prodigy, does the rest of life feel difficult as you can never reach the same fame. when a model gets older and starts to deteriorate physically is it a harder path then someone who looked average their whole life? do we all get to win part of some race depending on the people we imagine we are racing?

as we circle the track, newer contestants enter the race and we feel that the race just got harder. remember, it is circles we are going in but that the obstacles and prizes we are attempting to collect are different. we play our importance in the circle, unknown to others that are not watching our game, we round the bases and celebrate momentous victories with anyone that will listen. eventually we will slow down, but for now we imagine the roar of the crowd in this game of life that we are making up the rules, players and points.