How Do I Stop Feeling Behind Everyone Else My Age?

What do you do when you feel like everyone your age is moving forward except for you? On today's episode, I talk with someone in their 30s who feels exhausted.They feel overworked, and they're quietly discouraged, watching other people buy homes, build families, travel, and reach milestones they thought they would have. By now. They're trying to stay hopeful, but underneath it all is this fear that maybe they've missed their chance at life. They imagined.How do you keep moving forward when comparison keeps telling you that you're behind? We're going to break that down on today's show. Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr. Here. Welcome to Financially Confident Christian.If this is your first time joining us, welcome. And if you're returning, I'm so glad you chose to join us again.Every day on the show, my goal is to help you break that cycle of financial shame that so many of us deal with and really live in confidence. And today's episode is all about how to keep moving forward when you feel behind everyone else at your age. Well, let's get right into our question.This was actually a voicemail we got from a young woman.

I have a question for you. I'm in my 30s and I'm exhausted, Like, constantly exhausted. And I still feel like I'm falling behind.I look around and everyone's buying homes, starting families, going places, reaching milestones that I thought I'd already have by now. And it's just hard not to wonder what I'm doing wrong. You know, some days it feels like everyone else got the blueprint except me.I'm trying to stay hopeful. I really am. I keep going. But underneath it all, there's this fear that maybe I missed my chance.Like, maybe the life I imagined for myself, that's just not happening. How do you keep moving forward when you feel like you're behind everyone else your age? I'd really love to hear your thoughts on this.Thanks for all you do.

Well, thank you for sending in that voicemail question. And it's a question I get absolutely all the time. But here's the thing I want to start off with. Feeling behind doesn't mean your life is failing.I want to start there because you're not failing at anything you're doing. It just means that your journey is different than the other people and maybe different than the journey you expected.The truth is, in life, we all take different journeys. I've said it on the show many times. We run our own race, not someone else's race.So let's break this down together today here's the first thing I'm going to encourage you to do. Stop using other people's timelines as your measuring stick. You can't do that.That's why this, why I dislike comparison so much, because comparison distorts reality. Because what you're seeing is their highlight reel.It's kind of like, you know, when you look at the sports recap on the 11 o' clock news, you're not seeing the full story. You're not seeing all the blood, sweat, tears and failures that went into that. And the thing about that is, milestones don't reveal peace.They don't show the debt. They don't show the stress or the regret. And different timing for you doesn't mean you're failing at that.But sometimes you got to be honest with yourself and you've got to grieve the expectations. Honestly, some disappointment is real. That's just a fact. I'll give you a great example of this.I don't talk about this on the show for many much at all. My first marriage, it failed. We were together three and a half years. That's a fact. It failed. I had to start over. That's a fact.It wasn't what I had planned. That's a fact. And unfortunately, some dreams aren't going to happen the way you'd hope.And you've got to acknowledge that honestly, instead of trying to bury it. Because grief process becomes lighter over time. But at the same time, I love what you said in your question.You said, ralph, I'm carrying on, I'm surviving. Recognize what you have survived. You're still here. You're still working, you're still trying, you're still building.And that matters more than you think.You might not think that you've arrived, you might not think that you where you are, but if you're getting up in the morning and you're still putting one foot in front of the other, you're moving forward. Which is why we've got to focus on direction instead of age. Life isn't some race with these fixed checkpoints.I had this very conversation with my oldest son not too long ago. My son is really doing well.And he said, dad, he says, I don't understand what everybody else my age owns a home and they have this and they have that. I said, son, think about it for a second. Think of all the things you've accomplished. He has a master's degree, he has zero debt. He's 28 years old.He has zero debt. No student loans, no debt. He's got money in the bank. He's got more investments than I had at his age. But think about the trajectory of your life.Don't get so caught up on, well, at this age I have to do this and at this age I have to do that. Look at the direction of where your life is going. Look at that trajectory. That progress matters so much more than perfect timing.But before we end this, you got to build a life you actually want, not one that you feel pressure to display. And I think that's part of what I hear going on here. So much social pressure creates this artificial urgency for so many of us.We look around, we see people buying stuff and it drives me crazy a little bit. I see people buying stuff they truly can't afford. They're trying to keep up with everybody else. But if you ask them, hey, are you happy?You know what they tell you? No, I'm not. I see this in the influencers field all the time. You got big time influence out there when they.And when they do honest conversations about all this stuff they've got and they'll tell you their lives are empty. The truth is your life doesn't need to look impressive to be meaningful. It needs to be meaningful to you and it needs to be peaceful to you.That peace matters more than appearances. And I want to take this a little deeper now because underneath of all this is usually this quiet fear. And I heard it in your question today.You've got this fear that somehow you missed your window. I missed my opportunity. That life moved on without you. Like you're too late. You're not going to be able to get the future you once imagined.And that fear of missing out can become discouraging. But friend, that's not how God sees you. Your life in God's eyes isn't timing.So stop trying to keep up with everybody else and maybe just offer a simple prayer to lord, help me trust. My story is still unfolding, even when my story looks so much different than what I expected. Different timing doesn't mean you have a ruined future.It just means you're running your own race. So here's your win for today. If you're new to the show, every day I like to give you one simple win that you can take away. Here's today's win.I want you to write down one area where you're making progress, just one area. Because you need to redirect your mind to see movement, not just comparison, because that's really what we're talking about. It's about movement.I'll give you a great example of this. I ran a 5k not too long ago. It's probably been 6 years ago now to think about. I'm getting ready to start running some more.For me, it wasn't about my finishing time. I listen there were people that walked finish quicker than I did, but I finished. And that's the whole key.Well, let's move into our Bible verse today. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the book of Psalms, chapter 27, verse 14. And it says this.It says, wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Wait. Seasons that feel delayed are not always seasons that are abandoned. There just might be a different timing than what you're expecting.So wait for the Lord, Be strong, take heart and wait. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, right now I lift up that person who feels behind in their life.You see the exhaustion, you see the disappointment, and you see the quiet comparisons happening in their own heart. Remind them that their worth is not measured by a timeline or some milestone. Lord, help them to keep moving forward with hope.Give them peace where comparison is stolen. Their joy and Lord, give them courage to trust that their future is still being shaped with purpose.Strengthen them in this season, in every season, Lord, and help them to see progress even when life looks different than they expected. And I ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen, friend. Your story is not late, it's still unfolding. And that's the beauty of this.You're on a journey. Who knows where it's going to end up? But wait on the Lord and listen.If today's message has resonated with you, I would love to hear your question for the show. You can head over to financiallyconfidentChristian.com/question Let me know what's on your mind.Let me know those questions or those triumphs or those things you're struggling with and we can work together and I can help you. Again. That's at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/question Thank you so much for joining me today. I truly appreciate when you give me a little time every day.I hope to see you back. So stay financially savvy. God bless you and you have a tremendously wonderful day today.