That's an interesting perspective. It sounds to me like you did very well at things when you were young, and you maybe became used to being "good" or "smart" or "talented" without having to work very hard at things.

As you get older, the only way to sustain that sort of advantage is to work hard at things you're not good at, but that requires stepping outside your comfort zone. Which is unpleasant. And additionally so if you had "innate ability" when you were younger (which I think is usually more about exposure than people realize).