I’m tired of being a young adult in today’s day and age. Along with social media and the internet come multiple questions about what we will do and where we will direct our lives. And because of that, we’re almost forced or conditioned into competing with each other.
Wherever we go, we want to make progress, whether doing well in academics, climbing up the career ladder, or having a relationship with someone.
And that is just entirely exhausting and immature. We’re all somewhat grown-ups and already know the importance of minding our own businesses instead of bombarding other people’s lives.
Because, as adults, we have the right to make our own decisions. However, it becomes more difficult to make them when everyone around us starts to act nosey and continues to ask us the question: “So, is this what you do?”
And when asked that question, we feel like we’re not good enough for other people’s standards.
Hence, our decision becomes more of a reflection of others instead of ourselves.
But what is the point of life if you’re living for others, not yourself?
This is the problem with competing with others. Because of Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or whatever social network site comes next, we’re all told to show off the best moments of our lives. If we get a new job, we go on LinkedIn and brag about it. And when we get into a relationship with someone, we feel the urge to post about it on Instagram.
But in the end, do we really want to go on social media and post about our lives? Is this what we really want? Or are we doing it for the validation of others?
Validation of a young adult’s broken dreams can definitely lead to a self-esteem boost. When others congratulate us on our accomplishments, it makes us feel better and helps us move forward. Because in a world where you’re forced to compete with others, whenever someone congratulates you, your mind immediately assumes that you’re one step ahead of them.
However, many of us don’t realize that this mindset is toxic. When we want to get noticed by others, we immediately forget about ourselves and our values. We immediately forget about our humble beginnings and our journey filled with hurdles and battles.
When we’re too focused on competition, we forget about our own situations.
We become too focused on the result. So, we would question ourselves: “Why is this the outcome? How come I have never done this earlier?”
But the reality is that every person’s circumstances and journey are different.
We may have taken the road less traveled, and that’s totally okay. So in situations like these, it may not be the best idea to compete with others.
The other people we see may not have struggled the same way. Moreover, their skills and talents may be different. We know ourselves best. And by competing with ourselves, we’ll see how we have grown as a person and how our character has developed over time.
When we begin to see our own progress, we’ll live life by our own values and continue to be proud of our goals. And that will be better than the external validation that others give us.
Featured image via fauxels on Pexels
