Quarter-Life Crisis

(Source)

In January, just two weeks fresh off of a life-changing trip to London, I had my 24th birthday. Having a birthday so close to the beginning of a new year has always been weighty due to the fact that everything (including my next rotation around the sun) is so fresh. Because of this, I tend to set pretty lofty goals for myself thinking, THIS will be THE year! And, truthfully, 24 has been a good year. I've made a lot of positive changes in myself, expanded my freelance work, learned a ton, spent quality time with quality people, and even tricked a pretty damn cute guy into becoming my boyfriend.

However, being who I am, I find myself often thinking about my next birthday...the BIG 2-5. It's months away and yet, I can't help but dwell on it. When I start to think about how old I'm getting, I start to question my adult life. I wonder things like, "Am I content where I'm at?", "Should I have accomplished more by now?", "Should I stay at this job for another year, or is it time to move along?", "Is it time to buy property and move away from renting?". The questions are overwhelming and seem to invade my brain all hours of the day. Ultimately, I think these questions stem from a place deep down inside where I feel like I should be further along in my career than I am. Every day I find myself checking my Yoleo-Reader and wistfully gazing at the blogs and designs of women I greatly admire. I see the amazing work they do and think to myself, "Why am I not doing this?".

Lately I've had to remind myself more and more of the fact that I am still young, still further along than most people my age, and all those women that I so greatly admire have been doing this for at least a decade and didn't really hit their turning point until at least 30. They worked their butts off for years to get where they are, it didn't just "happen" to them one day.

They say that comparing oneself to others is toxic, so tell me, how do navigate around this pitfall of life?