The other day, I came across an inspirational audio on Instagram. So, I did what any good blogger and content creator would do and created a Reel. But hours after I created the content, the audio kept replaying in my mind (here’s the Reel, for reference).
In case you are still reading, but haven’t watched the Reel yet, the audio is about how you are never really behind in life because no one is walking your same path. So, you can’t actually be behind. The audio made me think about all of the societal metrics that get placed on us, like that you have to go to college, get married, have 2.5 children, and buy a house all by the time you hit 30. And, if you don’t, then you are behind. But, what if these vanity goalposts didn’t exist? Would we still feel behind?
I thought about my own life. From the age of 22 onward, I was a caregiver to my grandmother. I got married at 24. By 26, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. At 30, I was going through a divorce. When I turned 34, I went back to my equestrian roots. By 35, I left my stable full-time job to become a creative entrepreneur. And, at 36, my grandmother passed away. I’m sure I likely forgot some other significant life events along the way (like a move and a potential thyroid cancer recurrence), but that’s what I came up with off the top of my head. Am I successful? By society’s standards, perhaps not. But if you judge success by how you feel in your skin, how you treat people, and by how happy you are, then suddenly, I’m not feeling so bad about my life choices.
I’ve always felt that we tend to compare ourselves to others often. Social media makes it even easier now to look to strangers on the Internet who appear to be doing better than ourselves. But after writing out the twists and turns in my own life, most of them a result of circumstances or completely random, I realized how powerful it is to be walking my own path. There’s no way I could compare my path to others, which is something I have known for most of my adult life. And while there have been plenty of bumps along the way, I wouldn’t change my path for anything. Every experience taught me a valuable lesson and helped mold me into the person I am today.
So, whenever I think I am behind, I look at how far I have come.
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