Having had quite an "eventful" life sofar myself also, I feel you man.
Without getting into details I'm noticing even some simularities here and there.
For me it wasn't a book that made me change "things". It was a just a question a good friend asked me on a night loaded with booze and other "delicacies" that got me thinking the next day, after again one more great hangover.
'What would you do if, after a medical exame, the doctor told you you had 5 more years to live'? Not one day more, not one day less. Exactly 5 years, AND in good health!
In a "previous life" I had a rather succesful career in HRM, which at some point, I exchanged for a following 12 year life in France, working in construction; working with my hands. Which I still do and enjoy.
Became a dad already at young age, married because of that. One big mistake and lots of troubles. Got divorced, the judge giving me custody of my son, who was at that moment almost 3 years old.
There I was, a kid with a kid in fact, not even having lost my so called wild hairs yet. With some help of my mother who took care of him while I worked, I did my best to raise him as good as I could.
Anyway, lots of other "challenges" have crossed my path.
Would I do it all over again? Yes, having no regrets at all.
Would I have made other decisions in the past, with the knowledge and life-experience I have today. Probably!.
But that's not how life works.
Take care mate.
P.s.1 Like the artwork
P.s.2 Only a real prick can downvote a post like this.
I remember one friend early on asked, "Do you see yourself doing that when you're thirty?" I'm like, "No." He's like, "Why you doing it now then?"
That led to a brief wake up call but it didn't last.
I work with my hands now, getting dirty on a farm. Of course, that hasn't started yet for me.
I'd do it all over again. A lot things from the past involve just going with the flow. That's what I was given. I didn't write about good times here but that doesn't mean they didn't exist. A chance to fine tune a few historical events might improve things for today, but I'm sure I'd still have new challenges and eventually something to look back on.