Ryan S.

If you’re reading this, you’re not behind.

For most of our lives, we’ve been surrounded by people who were on the same timeline as us.

We started everything at the same time. We had the same summers, the same school years, the same milestones. We always had a plan for what comes next. It was easy to compare your pace with your peers.

As we move through our college years, it becomes clear that there is no timeline anymore. We make our own.

Some of your friends will get married. Some will move across the country. Some will land their dream job. Some will know exactly what they want. Some will completely start over.

And for the first time ever, there is no universal “next step.”

This uncertainty makes it incredibly easy to start comparing your accomplishments to others. But the more you compare, the more you lose sight of your own journey.

Comparison is the thief of joy because it makes you overlook everything you already have while convincing you that happiness is waiting for you somewhere else.

So be happy for your friends.

Celebrate the friend who gets married, even if you're nowhere near ready for that. Be proud of the person who completely changes their plans, even if you feel like you need to have yours figured out.

One day, when you reflect back on your time at Clemson, you’ll realize how much you can miss by constantly comparing your journey to someone else’s.

So enjoy where you are.

Call your friends. Try something you’ve never done before. Take the opportunity that scares you. Spend time with the people around you. Appreciate this place we get to call home, because someday, you might realize you were living through the best years of your life.

You don’t need to have everything figured out.

You don’t need to be the one winning someone else’s race.

Let other people live their lives. And let yourself live yours.

Because someday, you’ll realize there was never a race to begin with.

Don’t waste your life wishing you were living someone else’s.

You are not behind. You’re exactly where you’re meant to be.

Ryan S., Clemson University

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