Have you ever had your birthday coming up and thoughts like “Wait, I actually haven’t accomplished all I wanted to by now” or “I don’t feel good enough for my age” giving you nightmares? We have all been there and it is pretty scary. You start to feel like a failure, with your dreams chasing you instead of you chasing them. These feelings can really ruin everything and put a huge amount of pressure on yourself, so I want to talk to you today on how to avoid letting them get the better of you.
Why do we feel like there is a deadline to success?
Our young generation is poisoned by the firm belief, that there is a very small time frame to lead a fun life and to successfully accomplish your goals and dreams. Like life ends somehow after 30 and we need to be successful by 25 and enjoy some good years while they last.
Over the last decade, social media has done its fair share to offer their users a place to effectively present themselves and made it simple to inevitably compare their lives with each other. It’s human to socially compare yourself, that is how we evaluate our appearance and abilities. But mostly, we draw the short straw while doing so and lose sight of our own accomplishments in comparison to those of the others.
Have you been working on your dreams for a while, but can’t get them to take off? Have you taken a bit longer than others to get where you are today, and feel like others are more successful and needed less time to get there? Do you now feel discouraged to continue your path?
Here are some truths, to get yourself back on track:
1) If you consider giving up on your plans and dreams, ask yourself, if you would regret that decision 5 years from now. If the answer is yes, get back up on that horse!!
2) You are more than these plans you have been following to accomplish. Don’t limit yourself to whatever it is that you spent your time and energy on to achieve. You are so much more than that. Remember all the other interests, passions and traits that make you you and that there is a life next to the pressure of achievements.
3) For one moment, shift your focus away from what you are missing to what you have achieved till now. Another harmful trait of todays young generation is to set the focus on what is missing and what can still be improved about our lives and bodies. Instead of “being”, were are constantly “becoming”. Stop and acknowledge your accomplishments till this day.
4) Whining and complaining will drain you of energy and change nothing. I know that feeling unaccomplished can feel like the end of the world. Personally I spent way to much time being moody and whiny about being a late bloomer, instead of taking action to change the way I feel.
5) Take the negative energy and let it motivate you to start over! If you have the time to whine and sulk about this situation you find yourself in, you have the time to change it all around and take action.
6) Don’t stop dreaming, since it is where all the growth and excitement in life comes from. So, the bottom line is: feeling too old and unacomplished is not only negative and highly subjective selftalk, it also doesn’t get you anywhere back to happy. Now you can either dwell on feeling defeated, or get back up and keep on working on your goals. And we know what would make you the happiest… 😉