Some guys are born in an OCBD, other guys come to it later in life. Some guys have always felt a draw toward style and aesthetics. Other guys are inspired by other outside forces later in life. The truth is, ultimately, we all start somewhere. Every guy, even if he was into style at a young age, goes through growing pains. Every guy has to work it out. Every guy goes through a phase where he doesn't quite understand himself yet and he does too much. He goes too far that way, then too far this way etc... It is natural, we all go through this. We all start somewhere.
There are different sides to this, I think. On one hand we have to understand this and accept it as okay. It isn't anything to be ashamed of or anything, it is life. We start somewhere and we grow. We are always growing. We shouldn't really believe in regret or even entirely be embarrassed of our past. You are who you are because of your past. Yet, we also need to be able to forget. We don't want to hang up a picture on the wall of our worst fit of all time. We don't want to remember over and over again the misconceptions we had. In a way, we need to be able to forget our past while also accepting it. This of course isn't only about clothing. This is life.
Part of this is also about our outward facing self and our inward facing self. There is a reason we have a private side and a public side. Often, we feel most comfortable keeping our past growth in our inner world, while presenting our current self in the outer. We don't want to continually reveal our growth for all to see. Yet, they see this growth as well, so it is impossible to conceal. They are also growing themselves as well. Mutually assured destruction. It is a dance, it is this delicate dance of forgetting together. This dance and the presentation of public self in dignity is a kind of civilizational feeling. This distinction between private and public is a particular aspect of civilization. It is fascinating. In many ways the technological age has made this forgetting together more difficult, there is a lot to this.
Back to clothing. I think for some guys who are just starting out, they feel intimidated by everything. They don't know where to start. Some guys are anxious and excited, they are enthralled by this whole new world to conquer and understand. They drink it up and love it. For others though, it can be difficult. I think for some guys they feel like they are starting at such a "low level" (stupid thing to say, but this is what they feel), they don't know how to even start. They almost feel self conscious before they begin.
It goes without saying that guys shouldn't feel this way. We all start somewhere. We all go through phases. Some years we drift this way, others we are into something else. We grow and we refine our own personal style, we grow into who we are. We never really completely arrive. We come to a more comfortable cruising altitude, that is true. We become more stable in our personal style, our growth slows for a time, but we never really arrive. We are always becoming.