Being a young adult is a tricky stage of life to navigate. After all these years of your parents holding your hand, it’s finally your turn to call the shots. However, it’s also easy to fall into a slump and get discouraged, especially when you constantly hear about the accomplishments of others. At age 19, Simone Biles earned five medals at the Rio Olympics. During his undergraduate career, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook and globally impacted the social media game. David Karp created Tumblr without completing high school!
Hearing about these incredibly impressive achievements may leave you to think, am I trying hard enough? Am I doing something wrong? You’re often left to question whether you’re making the best use of your time, and you’re left wondering if you’re headed in the right direction. When faced with self-doubt and frustration, it’s so important to remember that you are a work in progress.
If you’re going through a “What on earth am I doing with my life” moment, it’s crucial that you refrain from comparing yourself to others. It will always feel like someone is more well off than you, and with the rise of misleading social media, it may not even be true! But it’ll still stress you out nonetheless. Comparison wields the power to leave you feeling insignificant and you don’t need that negativity in your life! Everyone’s path to success is not identical. Focus on what’s best for yourself and never stop putting your best foot forward.
It’s difficult to know exactly what you want from life, and where to look for it, and that’s okay. Personally, this concept is hard to wrap my head around, as it sometimes feels like I have no clue what I’m working towards. However, you can eliminate the feeling of purposelessness by setting short term goals as a means to measure progress. You have the world at your fingertips and millions of possibilities waiting to be discovered, so naturally it’ll take time to figure out where you want life’s journey to take you. But in the meantime, this helps you get through periods of disheartenment.
Most importantly, don’t sweat the small stuff. You will face setbacks. Some will be larger than others, and sometimes it may even feel like your life is being consumed by one obstacle after another. The key is to maintain a positive attitude and power through; treat every bump in the road as a learning experience, and pinpoint what went well and what didn’t. We often forget that mistakes can be as valuable as successes.
So if you’re feeling lost or stuck, remember that it is temporary. The person you are today won’t be the person you are tomorrow, in a week, or in a month. You are a work in progress.
