I am a chronically late bloomer. I feel like it takes me so long to fully understand something and causes delays in my actions and everything I do is on my own time.

This can be a point of frustration for me at times when I compare my progress with others. It has been disheartening to think that, at age 46, I should have started my career earlier, started an entrepreneurial endeavor, visited at least a few foreign countries, learned more about myself, started my spiritual path earlier, found more joy earlier in life in order to have more now, built more wealth, etc.

I see others around me that have reached these milestones (or at least outwardly project it) and I feel longing. Comparison is the source of that pain. It’s okay to healthily compare yourself for the point of checking in, but it can also become an unhealthy crutch. When we compare, we can also attach a victim mentality to our situation. We may think that our trials and adversity were much more difficult than someone else. That is most likely not the case. If you know someone in a “better” situation than you, maybe they just navigated their trials with a little more grace OR maybe they took the time to get quiet and listen to their inner peace in order to figure out what they wanted to do with their life. We should be happy for someone that figures it out. It means that there is hope for us to finally understand.

So what if we haven’t “arrived” at our destination? Is that the point of life? Maybe the point is that we are just on the path?