Pace indeed. It’s such a fascinatingly regular phenomenon as to just how often we compare ourselves.  To anyone or anything, how fast we achieve something how we compare to others and anything else that can pick at our self-esteem.

Individual pace

Individualism goes a long way in taking the pressure off.

You watch Die Hard and think – “man, my life is so boring. Why can’t it be more like that?” Or “John McClane is such a badass – I wish I could be like that, that’s one hell of a pace”.

Young guy drives past you with a pimped-up BMW and you compare. Where did you go wrong? Where did you take the wrong turn and that guy over there took the right one?

We are obsessed with winning the race of life. Who is the competition? Anyone who measures up to you or does seemingly better than you are, never someone who does worse. You are destined to be in last place because of your mindset. Because you are overly consumed with the fear of falling behind.

Doubt

Doubting yourself when someone came to an alternative conclusion to the same issue that was posed to you. That person is smart, therefore they made the right choice which happens to be the opposite of the one you made. So, it can only make sense that the decision you made is the wrong one – that can be the only explanation consistent with what you think you know about yourself and what you think you know about the other.

Ever considered that maybe both decisions are right? Right for them, most likely the wrong one for you. That your pace is meant to be different from your neighbour. It doesn’t have to be all wrong or all right, not everything has to add up all the time. Not always is there a clear distinction between one and the other– sometimes the meaning of a decision means nothing in abstract and its value is completely hinged on you and you only.

After the fact

It is how you opt to act after the fact that then moulds the meaning of the decision you made before – only then does it add value and reflect a truth. Until the consequences pan out, however, you are only left guessing. Maybe stop guessing, maybe you made the right choice, maybe the wrong one but you made it now so just work hard in the right here right now to make sure that when you do turn around in the future and consider the repercussion of a decision you once made, it was for the better.