When we were kids, we looked at adults and thought that they knew it all. We thought that they had everything all figured out. Then, all of a sudden we grew up and became adults, only to find that we don’t actually know as much as we thought we would by this age.

When I was younger, I’ve always had this mentality of “By this age, I will do this.” Unfortunately, I’ve come to learn that things don’t always happen exactly when or how you want them to. In fact, it’s actually quite the opposite. Things happen when you least expect it, when you’re ready to give up, when you’ve had nearly enough.

In a day and age such as this, where we now prolong certain “next steps” or “new chapters”, it’s easy to get down on ourselves for not being at the stage that we once thought we would be. We may look sometimes around and see other people who are in a certain place in their career, or their relationship, or living situation that we want to be in, but we just haven’t quite gotten there yet.

We see other people and look at ourselves, feeling disappointed or jealous because we aren’t where we want to be. The thing is, comparison is a killer. And the truth of the matter is, there is absolutely no set age for having it all figured out.

When we compare ourselves to other people with where they are or what they have in life, it doesn’t help our situation in the least bit. It doesn’t do anything for us except put us down. We should not look at another person and feel anger, jealousy, or resentment towards them, but instead ask ourselves “What do I need to do in order to get to where I want to be?”

We have no idea how long it took for that other person to get that point. We have no clue how hard they worked, how much time they sacrificed, or what decisions they have made in order to get to where they are now. We don’t know because it’s not our lives, it’s theirs.

In time, everything eventually falls into place for us. We may not know how long it will take, but we are all running our own race that only we should focus on.

We don’t need to have it all figured out by a certain age or by a certain year. There is no limit to when we can decide we want to do something.

We will figure it out when the time is right. But for now, pace yourself and enjoy the journey. After all, that’s how we get through life.