*Ding!* a text notification pops up. It's a friend of mine who I haven't spoken to in a while. We say our hellos and I ask how things have been. My question leads to his explanation of how frustrated he is because the job hunt has been rough. I can tell it weighs heavy on him because of the plans he had laid out and a time frame he'd set out to follow.
This made me think about the many plans we all make be it in our careers, life, family, education and businesses. Then life happens and we realise things aren't as straight forward as we hope, things don't work out and we either feel like we've failed ourselves or think how silly we must've been when we made those plans all while looking back at your younger self with disdain because of the dream you sold yourself while "had I known" thoughts flood your mind.
The thing is, the time spent figuring out where you need to be isn't wasted time. It might feel that way because the older, wiser you of today is judging your more youthful self. A self who had less information, fewer life experiences and different priorities all while trying to find a path to today without much of a map.
As you grow and face more of life's challenges, you grow further away from your younger self and the further you get from that person, the more difficult it becomes to understand his or her motivations. Keep in mind though that that younger you was doing the best that he or she could under the circumstances.
In another few years, today's you will seem equally quaint based on your future self's more evolved standards. So don't beat yourself too much about how your present doesn't match up to what your past self wanted.
You weren't ready to be who you are today, 5 years ago. The past is a foreign country... they do things differently there.
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