For moments when you feel left behind everyone else

I’ve been through several moments when I felt as if life was moving too fast. A lot of my friends started moving out of the places we grew up in. Some of them shifted abroad to pursue their masters while some of them just shifted homes. I was happy and proud of them but I was also a little sad because I did not have such a dynamic shift.

With young adulthood hitting me, I started realizing that there are people my age who are making more money than me, or who are traveling more than me. They’re getting around that Game of Life board faster than me.

I’m certain that even you have been in a similar kind of situation. We don’t like admitting it but it happens. You feel like everyone is doing better than you are and getting further ahead while you’re just debating whether you should send that e-mail.

After a while, you decide that you can’t keep going at the same speed you were and you need to catch up to everyone. You force yourself to get worked up and start planning about everything that could dynamically change your life. You feel hopeful when you start that you’re one step closer now.

Dream, Attract, Manifest right? But a few weeks later, you start feeling like you’re trying to outrun your natural flow of growth. And as you begin to slow down, you begin demeaning yourself that you’re worth is not comparable to the people around you because you’re not fast enough.

It’s that feeling, isn’t it? The guilt you feel when you’re cheating yourself out of the best life, the best version of yourself

STOP! Take a deep breath.

Absolutely, everyone in this world works based on their own time zone.

People around you might seem ahead of you.

That’s totally fine. Some are behind you.

Everyone is running their own race in their own time zone. You’re right where you’re at because that’s where you’re at. In your own time zone.

So relax. You’re not early. And you’re not late. You’re very much on time, exactly where you’re supposed to be.

Don’t compare your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 20.

People who’re doing well for themselves deserve it because they have shed sweat and tears to get where they ended up. While they could’ve spent two years preparing for that moment, you’re still three months into the process of a paradigm shift.

We have played by the rules for so long during our adolescence that we forget that life after school and college is different. The same rules no longer apply to everyone. In fact, there are no more rules at all.

Once you’re college ends, everyone grows at a different pace and at different times. On the brighter side, this is a good thing. Worrying about lagging behind shows that you care about yourself and your future and it can fuel you to pick yourself up.

20–30 is a weird time because it seems like everyone thinks everyone else has it together. We know that’s not true.

Just one day, one step, one breath at a time, and eventually you’ll look back and wonder why you ever panicked or worried about your place in life. Whatever your goal is, it will take a lot of work to be where you want but I promise you that it will be worth it. Never have I seen anyone who does not feel proud of themselves for improving their life.

"Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit." -E.E. Cummings