i will bounce off of what lt said because in the past i have been notorious for losing my freaking mind post show and blowing up like a balloon. when i got a little older i figured out not to do that anymore cause for one it could freaking kill me. and post show rebound is great if you ease into it.
here is a breakdown on what i would have done:

surrounded myself with better my like minded people

been more consistent with my eating way earlier on

no stupid ego lifting and doing power lifting meets for shits and giggles just because i was strong. no carry over and not important at all for what my goals were

jumped in with a good coach that would have been there to bounce ideas off of and as a reality check on plans training and everything else.

i have this stuff lined up now really well and i have learned a ton from trial and error as well as working with clients and other coaches but i would def be much further along if i would have done some different things earlier on