Your twenties are a wild age. Every person in your age group is on a different track, you are done with school, mostly, and the world is your oyster. It can be intimidating at times when you stop to think about it.
You’ve got one friend that just got engaged, another that landed her dream job out of college, and relatives wondering when it’s your turn. “Well you see grandma, I’d love to tell you, if only I knew myself,” you think. Fortunately, you are not behind where you need to be in life. Not even in the slightest.
All if it can for sure get you down. It’s easy to feel behind when the world, and even history sometimes says that you haven’t reached certain milestones in time. The good news is, you are actually not behind. Keep reading to find out how.
Why You Are Not Behind in Life (Even If It Feels Like Everyone Is Winning)
Society likes to have an input on how everyone needs to live their life, but they don’t get a say. Only you can determine what the track of life looks like for you.
Sure you may be having a few more pitstops than your peers. But, each person is on different tracks anyway, so why should it matter? If you need more convincing, here are three reasons that will show you why you are not behind, even if you feel like everyone around you is winning.
The “Perfect Timeline” Doesn’t Exist
We’ve talked about this topic quite a bit in various other GenTwenty posts, but it’s worth reiterating. That timeline you hear about that says you have to be married with kids and working your dream job by the time you are 30? It’s not real.
It doesn’t take into account your life experiences, upbringing, or even the current state of the world. The truth is that you don’t need to have it all by the time you’re 30. And, you don’t even need a plan for how you’re going to have it all either.
The best any of us can do is live each day to the best of our abilities in pursuit of what we are passionate about. That could be a career, a family, or even a hobby.
Your Current Life Is Someone’s Dream Life
The song I Sit In Parks by Kelsea Ballerini illustrates this point perfectly. You may have gotten that college degree and are working at a great job, but don’t get a lot of time off, while the woman across from you at the coffee shop is wishing she went to college before settling in a job she doesn’t like.
Not that we need to be comparing each other’s journeys because that can be discouraging. Instead, it’s worth noting that where you are isn’t all that bad in the grand scheme of things.
You are not Behind in Life, The Greats Got A “Late” Start Too
Anytime I start doubting where I am based on where I want to be I remind myself of this. We see these super successful people and wonder how great it must feel to have “made it.” In reality a good amount of them worked hard and still suffered setbacks and redirections.
When you see that Colonel Harland Sanders faced over 1,000 rejections before creating the Kentucky Fried Chicken brand and Vera Wang didn’t start her world famous fashion designer career until age 41, your perspective changes.
How To Start Feeling Like You Are Winning
Hopefully you are starting to see the light here. You are right where you are supposed to be, and you still have time to pursue, and achieve your goals. If you still need some convincing, here are a few actionable steps you can take to start feeling like the winner you are to close us out.
Start Looking At Life Like A Puzzle
This is a mindset that I’ve adopted that works well for me. Think of your life like a puzzle. Say this puzzle is a photo of a park fountain that has a seating area on the right and a greenery area on the left. Then of course you have the trees and sky in the background.
Let’s say you already have the outside pieces done and have framed your puzzle. What do you do now? You don’t just pick up random pieces and try to fit them together, do you? It’s much more efficient to separate each component of the photo and work on it one, maybe sometimes two, at a time.
Given this setup let’s say that the fountain is your career/financial life, the seating area is your health, the greenery area is your social/family life, and the trees and sky in the background are passions/any other area of your life. Your goal is to of course complete your puzzle and live your best life, but to do that you need to focus on one area at a time.
Celebrate Small Wins for a Reminder that You are Not Behind in Life
We put a lot of focus on the big milestones of life, but to be honest those are few and far between. It’s much better to focus on celebrating the small wins instead.
How would your mindset improve if you were proud of yourself for speaking up in a work meeting or being able to run farther than before when training? Try celebrating all your small wins and see how much better you start to feel.
Celebrate The Milestones You Are Crossing, Even If It’s Unconventional
Throwing parties for engagements and new babies are wonderful events, but are very exclusive to those in their family era. Can we normalize throwing parties and making registries for a new job or buying a house? What about throwing a party for reaching your goal weight or completing a marathon for the first time?
Even if these are unconventional ideas, I say we start doing them anyway. These are all big accomplishments that deserve to be celebrated by ourselves and the people who care about us.
Reread The First Part Of This Article
Lastly, anytime you start doubting yourself again, I need you to reread what I’ve written above. Go ahead and bookmark this post so you have it handy when you need it. Then share this with a friend you think needs to read these words.
As I said in the beginning, your twenties are a wild age. Only you can determine what that looks like for you, no one else.
About the Author
Kelly graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Advertising and Public Relations and a minor in Journalism. Even though it took her a little while to find her career path, she was always meant to be in Communications. She remembers writing poems and songs when she was a little girl and pitching to my parents the reasons why I should have a cell phone when I was a teenager. She currently has a blog (budding-joy.com) where she talks about her weight-loss journey, mental health and personal development. Her hope is to encourage and inspire readers and let them know they are not alone. Reading blog posts like that are what helped her in tough times and she wants to pay it forward. She loves dance fitness, listening to music, and creating layouts in her bullet journal. She's a big fan of planning, especially when cute notebooks and pens are involved. Her dream job has changed so much over the years; right now she'd love to co-own a dance studio.
Website: budding-joy.com