Did you ever look at your social media feeds and thought “why am I not more successful” or “why am I not as successful as person XY”? If you never had either of these thoughts, you have my highest admiration, because these sentences come to my mind way to often.
Whether it is the influencer with over 1 million followers who jet set through the world or just colleagues and friends posting about their latest achievements and jobs. I know, to you sometimes I am one of these people and I aware of the fact that I also got to experience a lot for my age, but a lot of times I am just as unsure about life as anyone else. It would go as far as to me thinking what I did wrong, I would question decisions that I made and why I am not on the same level as others my age or even younger who I watch on social media.
Sometimes I have those moments of insecurity. Luckily I manage to snap out of it quite quickly most of the time. Here are the 7 facts that I remind myself of whenever I feel like shit. 7 reasons why you should suck it up as well and live your life in your own way – at your own pace.
photography by Elena Rocco
styling by Anh Dinh
1. You have your own personality
Every person has their own values and character traits which lead them through life. Maybe you take special care of your morals, of fairness and a belief in not taking the easy way out. As unfair as it might be, this might slow down your road to success but will make you feel better about yourself in the long run.
For me it took some time to get adjusted to efficient networking, as I used to be super shy and had to develop my skills while others are naturally extrovert. But I learnt to handle my personality and use my strengths to support my weaknesses.
2. Success is not equal to happiness
I am not saying this just to comfort you because you might not have gotten your dream job. Considering all the amazing opportunities and adventures I had, when I think about the happiest moments in my life, non of my jobs make the top 3 cut. For me happiness comes with friends and family. Just because I am not at the point in my career where I imagine myself to be, doesn’t mean that I am not absolutely happy right now. The same probably goes for you.
3. Everyone has their own happy place
Also just because something makes one person incredibly happy, doesn’t mean that it will make you happy. A friend of mine recently wondered how it would feel like to be insta famous. I told her that it must be amazing traveling the world and working with the most amazing brands but that it also must be incredibly stressful to keep up with all the work and hold up a happy face all the time. For some this might be the happiest thought. For some working 24/7 is definitely not the dream, but seeing all the smiles on Instagram makes all of us jealous from time to time, doesn’t it? Make sure to remind yourself of what YOU want.
4. No path is the same
No icon ever grew famous the exact same way as another, every life path is different, you might just be taking a detour. I have so many ideas and projects that I work on all the time. Since I have to split my time on each of them, each of them grow slowly. Others follow one path and can therefore push that one forward much faster. I choose to do it this way because I like to stay true to myself and I just couldn’t do only one thing at a time.
5. You have other priorities
Did you choose your family, your freedom or a travel experience over your career at some point? I believe in making use of my privilege to study and therefore decided to do a Bachelor and Master. Also I took the liberty of taking a one year break after my a-levels and one year after my Bachelor studies to work and develop my personal skills and gain experiences. Obviously my priority so far lays in gaining knowledge instead of actually climbing the career ladder.
6. You have a different background
The truth has always been, some just have easier starting points (may it be in contacts or financial support) and that’s ok. You can still reach the level, it just might take more time. Don’t see it as a disadvantage, see it as the opportunity to become a stronger person.
7. No rush, you have your whole life ahead of you
Relax, if you are anywhere under 30 years old, you definitely still have you whole life ahead to work your ass of. Even if you are over 30 – forcing something never works. So lay back, enjoy a beauty mask and play with your pug.
Enjoyed this post? Give me a like on :: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter
