"but there is an epidemic of males who aren't thriving."

Shit diets, shit education, shit culture. It's nothing new, although it's been accelerating as society has become more dense and more concentrated on the top.

I say nothing new because I remember staying in the homeless shelter and just seeing entire lives wasted in abjection. Nobody held a decent hand to these men nor showed them another way. This utter abjection was intensified by the lack of positive models to emulate. When the zookeepers seem like a bunch of idiots, the caged animal thinks that, even for all of its trials, it is still more eminently wise and clever.

Are you sure? As a counter anecdote, I was diagnosed with low testosterone and went on replacement therapy. The injections were enough that my numbers in blood tests were up by a factor of three even a week after the injections. Certainly right after the injections my numbers would have been even higher. Despite this large change, I noticed no difference. I got more erections at night, that was it.

I hypothesize that sleep, diet and exercise can improve your mood through a whole bunch of factors, with testosterone playing an overstated role. Or even a reverse causation: improved confidence leading to higher T perhaps.

I've since stopped taking the injections as it simply wasn't doing me any good.

"It has become taboo to discuss"

I don't think you understand why you were downvoted. You made no effort to tie your comment into the OP. You then state a contrarian opinion as fact "my self-perceived status is low, my testosterone falls off a cliff." And lastly you use hyperbole "an epidemic" to describe your(?) situation which also expresses a lack of empathy for segments of society that really have it bad.

A reason to strive for status and money is because there is glory in it. The harder the struggle the greater the glory. So turn your "not thriving" situation into a personal battle. Let nothing hold you back. Fight brother! :)

My "epidemic" comment comes from my other life as an MMA coach. I observe men transformed every day from low energy insecure shadows into strong emotionally healthy men.

The worst cases tend to be desk-bound intellectuals like many of us here. As these guys transform the result is beautiful - less anxiety, more equanimity in the face of adversity, and a humble self confidence that looks nothing like Trump. :)

I've learned it's important to be secure in your own abilities and bright future regardless of the dice roll outcome of your own startup.

How did you measure your testosterone levels? (Just curious)

I've had it tested. Now, with some experience I can self gauge by how I feel.

I do not take exogenous testosterone but will be open to it as I age if healthy lifestyle can't keep it up.

They have blood tests for it, and a little bit of googling shows that there are home test kits too (that use saliva and are less accurate):

https://www.amazon.com/Testosterone-Level-Hormone-Balance-Te...

How do you know your testosterone levels dropped? Do you regularly get tested?