I am a firm believer in letting things happen in their due time.

Often times we work so hard to make things happen now and are so worried if what we want does not happen fast enough in our lives.

This is a persistent problem that social media has only enhanced. We have come to compare ourselves to others, and sometimes we feel like a failure and that we have let ourselves down if we aren’t living up to the standards of those around us. It can be hard when people are posting pictures of all the incredible things that are doing or accomplishing, like their destination trips or latest job promotion.

I graduated from college a year early, and I wasn’t one of those lucky ones that had a job lined up upon graduation. Some of my other friends were, though. And as I have been trying to get going with my life, I have been witnessing people that I should have graduated with this year apply for and get jobs, or get accepted into post-grad programs. It left me feeling a little defeated, and that something was wrong with me — that I wasn’t being successful and accomplishing the great things that I thought I should have accomplished by now.

When people are off living the ultimate lives, we can feel that something is wrong with us or we are behind the curve, but there is no need to feel that.

We are all living according to our own timelines. Sure some people may reach a certain milestone before we do, but that doesn’t mean that we will never reach those milestones. And there will certainly be milestones that we reach before others do.

One of my favorite films, Under the Tuscan Sun, has this one scene that has always resonated with me. Katherine, who is very eccentric and full of life, tells Frances in one of her many chats of wisdom, that when she was little, she used to sit in the fields and look for ladybugs. She would look and look all day, and eventually, would just give up and fall asleep. When she woke up, however, she found ladybugs crawling all over her. 

Katherine tells Frances that the ladybugs in her story represent dreams. And just like she was looking for ladybugs so intently, we need to stop trying so hard to make things happen now. Instead, we just need to just focus on what we love to do, and eventually, in its due time, the life we have wanted or the dream that we have wanted to accomplish will become reality.

So, we don’t need to feel like we have to be achieving certain things when others are. The point is that we must live according to our own timeline, and not be so worried if our timeline doesn’t match up to other’s. It’s not supposed to. Our lives and our experiences are unique to us.

Remember to just do you. Do what makes you happy, and don’t worry about anyone else. Live your life according to your own timeline, and just focus on being the best that you can possibly be.