Do you know, why the first steps on the cello usually fail?
It might not have been the right time to play the cello at that time, because you didn't want to or you didn't really enjoy it. In addition, the teaching market is full of freelance musicians who preferred to join orchestras or pursue a solo career. Such teachers often teach half-heartedly and people like you have therefore not learnt what they should have learnt in the first period!
I'm sure you sometimes think this also:
"Is "learning cello" really important now? Shouldn't I rather invest the money and time in something else or in the education of my children? Am I not too old to still be learning something like playing cello? Does it work at all? Don't you have to start early to learn to play properly? Does this even make sense for me?" - Such thoughts are responsible for the fact that 90% of the people do not follow their dreams! Playing the cello is one of them.