This is cool, pretty much the same timeline as me. I was into Spirituality until around 18 and then I found Actualism, (I’m also 28 now 
) tried it for a year or so unsuccessfully and then had like a 6 year or so break away from it to pursue the real world then came back 2 years ago.
Honestly reading yours, Adam’s and Srinath’s posts you might as well be taking about me because I went through all of those stages. I remember pondering these things when I first got into Actualism at around 18, that Peter and Vineeto were already older when they found it, they had all the life experience to show them why the tried and true is the tried and failed, they were also well-adjusted and able to live a normal life, so Actualism wasn’t some path of escape and avoidance for them.
I was at the other end of the spectrum 
. When I first came to the UK at around 12 years old I did not integrate into society, I had no friends at all, no social skills, riddled with anxiety, I wasn’t able to even face going to school, university or work. I never had any girlfriends or intimate relationships until about 18.
Basically by the time I found Actualism at 18, I was deeply dysfunctional and had no experience of what it is like to have a ‘normal life’, which includes being able to socialise, go to work, have relationships etc. This was also made worse by the fact that I had spent about 2 years pursuing Vipassana, and many years prior getting lost in various self help style spirituality.
Also at the time Actualism was not understood as well by most people interested so the conditions were ripe for me to turn it into something that was epitomised by avoidance and escapism.
Because I had no experience of why the real world solutions fail I always found myself pulling in two different directions. On one hand I had this fantasy of Actual freedom and on the other hand I had all these desires of being a ‘someone’ and experiencing all the best things that ‘being normal’ has to offer.
In the end I abandoned Actualism and set myself on a path of succeeding in all the things that ‘normal’ people do, getting a girlfriend, learning how to socialise, having a friendship group, becoming successful at a career etc.
When I came back to it 2 years ago I was more of a ‘well adjusted individual’. I was able to work full time, had a great friendship group, had a girlfriend, was able to function in society etc. So I guess those years were not for nothing. The thing I noticed though is that even though I was doing all the ‘right’ things, I was still deeply unhappy.
Seeing that the real world ultimately had nothing to offer me, that even after years of succeeding at being normal I was still not happy was what I needed to be able to commit to Actualism properly this time.
Looking back though I think part of the reason I went on this big detour was because of a lack of understanding of what the method is all about. As the other guys mentioned, I could have done all of those things I did whilst simply focusing on feeling good. I could have explored all these desires and pursuits whilst feeling good. I think the simplicity of it all is something that still hasn’t fully clicked for me, I still find myself trying to ‘act like an actualist’ whatever that means 
What was useful for me yesterday was re-reading the questions to Richard and Vineeto page that Dona and Alan made. In that correspondence the thing that is repeated over and over numerous times is making a commitment to feeling good each moment again for the rest of ones life. If I was to simplify my goal as an Actualist to this one simple commitment and then trim the rest, then things get alot more straightforward. Want to go ahead and become famous and rich? Sure, go for it, just feel good whilst you go about it. Want to go out and party every weekend, sure go ahead, just feel good whilst going about it etc etc.
The only thing I am ‘giving up’ is feeling bad! Then in terms of the ins and outs of what I do with my life it is up to my own assessment of what is silly and what is sensible for me to do (as long as this silly/sensible is not turned into some actualist morality as I think there can be a danger there).
I’m super intrigued by all this so I am happy to continue this discussion with anyone interested