No such thing as the 'right timeline'

Last week I turned 28. It's a bit of a weird feeling because when I was younger, I imagined a 28 year old to be very old and sorted in life and I sometimes feel like I'm far from it. By the time my parents were 28, they'd had both me and my brother, meanwhile here I am still feeling like a kid.

But I got down to reminiscing on my 20s and realized what a crazy rollercoaster it has been. From graduating and figuring out what to do with my life to dealing with depression and trying so many different jobs and eventually stumbling upon YouTube and making that work for me, it's been quite a journey, and one with LOTS of valuable life lessons.

In my latest YouTube video, I shared the top 20 lessons that I've learnt in my 20s (if you haven't watched it, you can check it out here). Today, I want to expand on one of those lessons, something that I'm still working on and keep reminding myself: Everyone has their own timeline and no timeline is the right one.

I mentioned this in my video too but I think when you're in your 20s, for the first time in your life, you're not at the same level as everyone. In school and college, more or less everyone is doing the same thing, but once you graduate, things suddenly change as everyone is following a different path. There are people going for masters, people getting great jobs, some people getting married and often times, we can't help but compare our lives to others and wonder if we've made the right choices, whether professionally or personally.

Lately, a lot of my close friends have gotten engaged or married (pretty sure they're subscribed to my newsletter so they might be reading this too lol) and subconsciously, I can't help but feel like I'm going to be left behind if I don't. Even with respect to work, every other day I come across someone way younger than I am who's doing a lot better than I am.

But earlier today, something happened that got me thinking. I got a message on Instagram from someone who'd watched my video and said that they felt I'd accomplished a lot by 28 (they're in their 30s and felt like they hadn't done as much), and hearing this made me realize how we're all in this vicious cycle of comparing our timelines to others.

So here's a reminder for myself and to you: there is no rush, life is long and you don't need to accomplish something by a certain age. If you need more time, take your time. It doesn't really matter what others do, we're all on our individual journeys and what's most important is that your feel at peace with your decisions. Even if you end up regretting some of your decisions, the lessons from those experiences will inevitably help you at some point in life, so just do your thing, there's no such thing as the right timeline!