Whatever choices we make now, we know we are stuck with, because nobody's coming to the rescue, and we will have to live with the consequences. If we screw up, we have to admit it, apologize, and try to make amends. We are responsible for supporting ourselves and our children. For most of us, this means that we will work, and give good value for money. It means we will abide by our employers' rules, learn what we need to know to do the job, and do the work as well as we can.
Adults are people who plan ahead.
We have to be. We cannot buy a house on the spur of the moment, because we need to save for it. We can't hop on a plane and go on vacation at a moment's notice because other people are depending on us to be here. When 40 hours or more a week are spent at work, and we have to pay all our bills on those proceeds, we understand how precious and limited time and money are, and we choose carefully how we spend them. We have become people for whom death is thinkable.