Lately, I feel like everyone that I talk to is doubting whether their grades are good enough, whether their GPA is high enough, or whether they're smart enough for the major they're pursuing. It's so easy to lose sight of how far you've come when you're stressed, and once that happens, it starts to feel like all your failures are piling up. It becomes difficult to see all your success. When I start to feel that way, I try to remind myself of these five things.
1. Everything takes time.
When you're working as hard as you can and still feel like you're not reaping the rewards, it's so important to remember that everything takes time. Your path may not look like the path of the person next to you, and that's okay. Every person is different and each person's timeline is different.
Some people have everything figured out by 22, and some people don't decide what they want to do until they're 35. It doesn't make one person better than the other; it just means that their journeys are different. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to accomplish something; it matters that you put in the effort and saw it through until the end.
2. You only see people's highlight reels.
It's easy to feel down when all you see on social media are people who are graduating early, traveling the world or landing amazing jobs. However, you have to remember that no one posts their failures online. What you're seeing is a curated, shiny version of a person's life. You see yourself at your worst, but online, you only see people at their best. You can't expect yourself to live up to that perfect vision because it doesn't exist.
3. Success is not linear.
You can be the most ambitious, determined, hardworking person on the planet and you're still going to experience roadblocks. You can be 100% sure of what you want your career to be for years and realize that somewhere along the way you changed your mind. It's easy to view these things as failures, but they're not.
Success is not linear; there will be times when you feel like you're doing great and there will be times where you want to quit. All that matters is that you keep pushing, no matter how bumpy your path may become because drive and perseverance are what will eventually lead you to your goal.
4. Everyone has different strengths.
My best friend is Pre-Med. I am 110% not Pre-Med. When I'm struggling through my Basic Nutrition homework and she's studying for the medical school entrance exam, it's really easy to feel like I'm failing, but that's not the case. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. My dad knows everything that there is to know about electrical contracting, but he doesn't enjoy writing. I love to write but know probably less than nothing about what it takes to be a successful electrician.
Does that make one of us smarter than the other? No. It just means that everyone has different things that they're good at. Just because you don't have the same strengths as someone else doesn't mean that you're not just as successful in other aspects.
5. Everyone doubts themselves.
If all else fails, just remember that everyone doubts themselves. No one is 100% confident in their abilities all the time, and you're never alone in feeling like you haven't accomplished enough. The only way that you can fail is if you stop trying. When you start to feel like you're not where you should be, take a minute to look back and think about how far you've come. You might surprise yourself.
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