"The point is, your self-maintenance burden only grows as you age, and it starts chewing away time you could spend otherwise" A 44 y.o. here who spends, say, 1

"The point is, your self-maintenance burden only grows as you age, and it starts chewing away time you could spend otherwise" A 44 y.o. here who spends, say, 15-20 hours weekly on self-maintenance. That includes a lot of walking (to the train station to commute and back etc.) where slightly faster transport alternatives are available. Yes, this time slice tends to grow slightly, but the rewards are worth it. For example, I used to have back pain that limited me much like you; it is gone.