At the age of 35, I "realized" I was not going to be an artist so I put almost all of my art into a huge outdoor pile and lit a bonfire. It was a very powerful ritual. Fortunately, I did take images of most of the work I did from age 19-25 before I burned it. Circling back 20+ years later, I realized. that most of my imagery was similar to what I painted later in life.