“Everybody is on their own timeline. You’re right where you need to be.” – Anonymous

“You are wasting your prime years,” these are the exact words my friend told me a week ago. Her statement made me think about my life. So, I asked myself if I really am wasting my years. As people know, I graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. However, I am currently working as a caregiver in Canada while most of my peers are nurses in America or the United Kingdom. It is true that I don’t have a high-paying job like them. I see a lot of them traveling the world… having fun, and being happy.

And I thought to myself that, maybe, my friend was right about me wasting my time.

Then, I remembered that while they are able to work as nurses with shifting schedules and rigid rules, I am working in a less stressful environment that allows me to pursue other interests such as writing (getting published at that). While they are traveling the world in their own right, I am creating my own world through my words and imagination. Instead of absorbing the world, I let the world absorb my writing. While some are just starting out their lives abroad, I was lucky enough to leave in my mid-20s. It has allowed me to help my family earlier as well. Some may have just started investing in their own houses, but I’m already halfway paying off our family house. And all these, my dear friends, are already enough to make me happy.

So, did I just waste my prime years? I think not.

It is easy for us to compare ourselves to the people around us nowadays. A lot of us feel like we are incompetent compared to our peers since we don’t feel like we are where we want ourselves to be. Though we feel like we are missing out on many things, we must remember that other people’s experiences are different from ours. Their life path is not the same as ours.

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook only post the happy parts. Nobody shares the hardships and internal battles other people face. We never know if that friend whom we envy also envies the life we have. Our timelines are all different, and we must work with respect to our personal timelines.

We cannot rush things that are not yet meant to happen. It’s the principle that goes in all aspects of life including career and love. So, don’t get pressured when people tell you to get married or have kids. Don’t be distressed when people downgrade your accomplishments or call you out on your job. Don’t think that you are losing to your friends and peers in the race for success. Your timeline is different from theirs.

You are following your personal timeline, and you know your priorities better than them. As long as your priorities make you happy and you won’t regret your life’s choices in the end, you are not wasting your prime years.

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