I think it’s worse when they’re younger than you
At the age of 8 he enrolled at The University of South Alabama, where he received in 1994 a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and is listed in the Guinness Book as the world’s youngest university graduate at the age of ten. At the age of 14 he obtained a master’s degree in chemistry at Middle Tennessee State University. At age 18 he obtained his master’s degree in computer science at Vanderbilt University.
I often use that as a source of encouragement rather than defeat. My two favorite sports are snowboarding and muay thai which are filled with people who’ve been practicing before they formed memories. If a child is better than me then I’m almost certainly capable of becoming that good with continued practice. Even if it takes years it’s something to aspire to regardless of the relative age difference. I was one of those kids who was way better than a lot of people on a dirt bike. I was put on a dirt bike at the age of 4 and don’t even remember learning, so it’s not like it’s a fair comparison. Just run your own race and aspire to be like those around you.
That’s a nicer way to look at things
The really fun part is that the first few times this happens to you, you’re the same age and feel insecure that someone your age achieved more, but as you age in to your mediocrity you gradually get to see people who are younger and younger than you achieve more than you ever did, and now, likely ever will. But hey, there’s always the memes to take your mind off it… oh wait.
…as you age into your mediocrity…
I feel attacked.
That’s my secret: I’m always depressed.
20+ years and going strong over here. I wish my shrink would hurry up and get certified for ketamine assisted therapy.
If that doesn’t work, psilocybe cubensis isn’t hard to grow and it might even be legal where you live.
Eh, my last shroom trip is the reason I no longer do psychedelics. Although through the ego death I did have the epiphany that life doesn’t matter, but it really doesn’t need to.
But, for a decent amount of the trip I felt like invisible hands were trying to drag my brain into insanity.
Too bad legal LSD isn’t a thing, because that was way more chill than shrooms.
Anyways, my depression is persistent depressive disorder, so I don’t have any super lows. My depression sits at a 4-5 scale and doesn’t move. I just go through life basically not feeling feelings.
I remember when Billie Eilish got big with her album at age 17 and I felt so crappy still making bat shit music at 18
Our environment has a lot to do with it too, like what we’re born into. Billie Eilish’s parents were both actors with a very limited amount of success. She’s not a nepo-baby by any definition of the word but she had parents who supported her passion and a have few connections. I don’t know what your situation growing up was like but I can take a guess and say that your parents said to you what my parents said to me when I said I wanted to be a rockstar. “You can certainly try, but most people who do don’t get very far.” They were right of course. You can cut yourself a little slack, life is hard.
Thanks for your kind words, but I have grown in the last few years ;) Today I would never ever want to get famous fast. I think it’s very tough to find any meaning and contentment for people that got famous “over night”
Think of it like this way.
Whatever you think you are good at, some asian preteen is better at it.
So do stuff because you yourself want to do it, not to be better at it than other people.
Huh, you know what, I don’t think I feel like this anymore. I used to, but now it doesn’t bother me. Thank you for making me realize I have grown.
That’s one of the problems of a global communication network. There was a quote i read some years ago (which i wish i could find again) that more or less said that people with some talent who in the past would have been the pride of their village now compete with world class in that skill and now are seen as “average”, yet in reality they’re talented, is just that the bar has been unfairly raised to “Beat the best in the world”.
Try to find out where or what you really shine at, and keep going through that way!
To shine at something you have to put effort into it. Usually it’s the lack of willpower that makes us average. Look at exceptional people, they succeed in very different areas.
What do you do when you don’t shine at anything?
I’m guessing practice things until you do
Let’s make ya’ll feel bad https://sam.zeloof.xyz/
Edit: His youtube channel since the web page doesn’t work.
the website doesn’t work
Remember, Wilford Brimley (the “diabeetus guy” who was in those ads to lean on his fame as an actor) didn’t start acting until he was in his 30s and didn’t make it on screen until his 40s, and he wasn’t a big actor until his 50s.
When I went back to college in 2020 about half of my graduating class was over the age of 30 and about a third was over the age of 50 (and honestly the older students landed by far the cushiest jobs by graduation, so they were able to skip about 10-15 years of career progression based on prior work experience in an entirely different industry/profession
Same age? These days I get this with people that are younger than me…
I had this when I discovered that my first friend who we bonded over computer achieved a better job at the same company. But I later landed a promotion that outdid him, so he can fuck right off. And now I’m in another highly desirable / competitive role. I’ve reached a point in my career where I’ve got nothing to prove to anyone but myself. It feels pretty great.
I felt like that when I realized most of the men in the avengers movies were my age. Like damn, they’re all so good looking and accomplished and here’s my fat ugly ass failing at everything.
Comparison, the killer of all joy
I remember I’d been playing guitar for about five years or something and thought I was getting pretty good when I met this kid who was 16 (the same age I started) who’d been playing for six months and was so much better at it than I was, it was scary. That was 23 years ago, and I might be as good as he was now. I’d like to say it never bothered me, but I still remember it.