> For instance, a "burning" desire may be sufficient to motivate a 22 year old to study mathematics, however that same desire in a 44 year old might not overcome the pressures, realities and obligations of life, work & family.
You'd be surprised at how many there are.
I'm mid-30s and I've recently finished a maths degree via distance learning (Open University in the UK). During the time I've been studying I've moved house, got married, had increased work pressures, become a father and I am helping bootstrap a startup in what little free time is left from all of that.
At the various tutorials, revision day schools and exams during my studies I met lots of others who were in similar positions. It's more common than you think.
So you're actually proving the point: you weren't born with this burning desire, you didn't learn it in college or high school or (as burning desire would indicate) when you were twelve - you waited until now, and were perfectly capable of learning it once your motivations changed.
As they do, as time passes. Anybody out of their 20s will know that.
I had a desire to study it since I was young. I excelled at both Comp Sci and Maths during school[1]. Studied both all the way prior to University and then had to pick one (I didn't want to do a joint degree as I wanted to study one in depth rather than two partially).
A Comp Sci degree was going to be a bigger advantage for the kind of job I was looking for and so that won. The desire to study Maths has always been there, it's just taken a while since leaving University until I was in a position where I had the time/money to study it in my spare time.
[1] First computer was a ZX81 when I was just 5 years' old.
You'd be surprised at how many there are.
I'm mid-30s and I've recently finished a maths degree via distance learning (Open University in the UK). During the time I've been studying I've moved house, got married, had increased work pressures, become a father and I am helping bootstrap a startup in what little free time is left from all of that.
At the various tutorials, revision day schools and exams during my studies I met lots of others who were in similar positions. It's more common than you think.