What to do when you are feeling left behind in life?

Many people compare themselves to others. Including me. But what we forget is that our comparisons are very weird. We compare ourselves to people who have different stories, different backgrounds and different situations. We expect to get the same results with all these variables.

This is going to be a real account of how I compared myself even when I had no basis at all to compare.

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I walked into my friend's room in the hostel and watched her write something in her notebook on the desk while her roommate was sitting on the bed and working as well. All I had walked in for was to get some updates on a project we wanted to get scraped. Before that, I had literally done nothing. I was chilling with another friend and doing absolutely nothing!

So after our conversation, I asked her what she was up to. She told me she was preparing for her MBA exam. And I asked her roommate the same question. She told me that she has interviews lined up which she was preparing for.

After this, I went to have dinner and I mentioned this very subtly to my best friend. Even before I could complete my sentence, he said, "Are you feeling left behind?"

I nodded. He got all furious and asked me to open my bank account details and check the balance amount.

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Now, I knew he had a point. I didn't want to do a job anyway. I didn't plan to do an MBA anyway. STILL! I realized that it is a habit. An unconscious pattern that happens on auto-pilot mode that we need to snap out of using logic. Getting into your heart is not always the answer because we are emotional beings. (At least I am)

And staying in my heart only makes me even sadder at times when I am comparing myself. But taking charge of the situation with logic helps me snap back into reality right away.

Homework

Now I want you to look at the people to who you compare yourself to thinking you are behind in life. Take a moment to list down all the differences that you see between them and you. Then see where you even want to go?

Do you even want to reach the outcome they are working for? Mostly, the answer will be no. If you are working on your career and you feel left behind because everyone around you is getting married and your family is asking you to do it too, you will compare yourself. But if you step into logic, you'll realize that it is not even a priority for you, yet. Emphasize the yet.

In some other part of your life, you might want to focus on it. That won't mean you are left behind.

Here is a reel I had made that explains this concept in a better way: