1y ago

Anyone else feel like ~99% of their life was kind of wasted?

In the last year or so I started to see so many people of my age that have done truly incredible things and still doing more.
For the vast majority of my life my only goals were gettimg academic satisfaction and doing unproductive stuff in the free time to get temporary pleasure. No end goal whatsoever.
I kind of don't know what I've been doing in the last 17 years while someone gets a patent on solar systems, other invents a new recyclable plastic, and another found a successful startup. I mean, they all find what they're supposed to be doing with their lives and excel in them.
I feel overwhelmed for trying to pace up with these kind of people. Yet I don't like the way the things are and I can't do anything but envy those people.
Anyone with experience in this regard? How did you deal with this? Did you eventually "pace up" with these people or was it too late or an unattainable goal?
Edit: Whoops, I didn't expect so many replies! Thanks, I'll look into them all

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326 comments

The best way to be miserable in life is to compare yourself to others. Just do your best, thats all that matters
- I'm really trying to not make this a way to mess up with my mental state, but instead a search on how to achieve the best of myself. I just want to know how these people are waking up in the morning and do the stuff they do.
  
  Some people are just wired differently, those people are programmed in a way that just so happens to be congruent with our society. It's not that something is wrong with you, it's just that society is "more right" for them.
  
  It’s also worth mentioning that I’ve been on the other side of this fence. It’s something that can be learned with time and dedication. If you feel like your life is unfulfilling and you want to change, you are never locked into the life you have right now.
  
  one of my psychologist friends said a long time ago “if you don’t keep improving yourself, then what’s the point in living”.
  you’re clearly already taking steps on self-improvement and personal introspection, which is probably one of the hardest things a human can do.
  honestly you’re already kicking goals if you try and be a better person each day. No one can ask more of you.
  
  Man, that doesn't resonate with me at all. I don't think there is any point to living other than just enjoying your time here. Sure, work when necessary to be able to afford the necessities, develop some skills to be able to afford a few luxuries, but honestly just do things that make you happy. Self-improvement as a reason to live seems awful. If you're unable to improve, are you a failure? If you're already happy as you are, should you just end it?
  
  it depends on what you consider self-improvement to be
  
  This is the core. I improve every day; part of that is by still not being dead.
  Some people measure improvement by monetary wealth; some by fame, some by influence, some by personal happiness.
  The key is to figure out what YOU value instead of measuring your improvement by someone else’s scale.
  
  Living like that sounds very harmful to ones mental health. Sometimes people can't improve despite trying and trying, and being told there's no point in living without improvement would just help people that are already depressed justify their thoughts on not being alive any more.
  
  the comment isn’t literal. it was an off handed way of saying that it is beneficial to try and improve oneself to get the most out of life.
  i perhaps shouldn’t have qualified his profession because this was a conversation over beers, not his place of work.
  
  A bit of a scale issue. You're seeing the top 0.001% of people. And they derive some kind of pleasure from their passions (probably) and are really specifically wired to chase this thing. It's ok to be mortal. The only thing you should excel at is being you and finding satisfaction in your own life. For every person with a world changing invention, or what have you, there are millions of people just living, and that's ok.
  
  Just remember that because the face you see is always smiling doesn't mean they truly enjoy their life. For all you know they're so burned out and miserable, over the stress, and would kill to go back to a less stressful life.
  We all have a tendency to see the grass as greener on the other side.
  
  I think some people just have different perspectives on life, different motivations. As an elderly millennial I empathize with you OP, I've felt much the same myself. I'm coming to terms with the fact that some people are just really focused and ambitious, while others (like me), really aren't - and that's perfectly okay.
- Finding what makes you happy and focusing on making sure you're unapologetically taking care of yourself is a good place to start.
  This goes for work, relationships, hobbies, friends, whatever.
  Can't say I've always done a great job of it but for me it feels like it has made a difference the older I've gotten.
  And of course, social media (including lemmy) is horrible for self confidence so don't binge if you can help it.

326 comments