Speed running in your 20s

A common feeling amongst people my age is to have everything in their life sorted by the age of 30.

Haven’t gotten accepted into Oxford? Failure. Haven’t earned your first million? You might never. No bodybuilder physique? Your prime years are running out.

There’s a pressure to achieve success and there’s a perceived deadline to do so. And when most of us don’t attain envious levels of fortune (which is statistically obvious), we often feel defeated.

These comparisons to others have been around since the dawn of time. Your own parents weren’t exempt from these pressures. But today, our pressures are fuelled by TikTok and Instagram. 19 year old Olympic athletes and affluent young prodigies captivate our attention. Indirectly, it makes us feel as though what we have achieved thus far is insignificant in comparison.

This is toxic. The dissatisfaction with the present moment leads to a negative feedback loop where our “fulfillment of potential” is always postponed to sometime in the future.

When the time comes and you’ve realised you haven’t achieved as much as you thought you would, you’ll just push your “deadline” further into then future. And then you’ll be 90 before you know it.

I believe hard work and reasonable expectations can exist together. We can look toward realistic goals and take our time. Block the noise out and understand that everyone takes their own time.

So relax. You’re living. You’re breathing. You’re healthy. Enjoy it.