Jemma Sbeg

Another reason that birthdays can bring up some negative feelings and some specifically existential feelings comes down to feeling behind when it comes to your life plans. Feeling like you should be further ahead. Feeling like you should be more accomplished. And yet here you are and you look around. Everyone else seems to be doing these amazing things and you're lost and you're behind and

And now as you get older, all it's going to be is this game of catch up. If you can relate to that, I think what you're experiencing is not so much birthday anxiety, but milestone anxiety. Anxiety to do with feeling like you are not hitting specific socially approved targets when you should be. Now, this is a real conundrum for a lot of us in our 20s.

And now as you get older, all it's going to be is this game of catch up. If you can relate to that, I think what you're experiencing is not so much birthday anxiety, but milestone anxiety. Anxiety to do with feeling like you are not hitting specific socially approved targets when you should be. Now, this is a real conundrum for a lot of us in our 20s.

And now as you get older, all it's going to be is this game of catch up. If you can relate to that, I think what you're experiencing is not so much birthday anxiety, but milestone anxiety. Anxiety to do with feeling like you are not hitting specific socially approved targets when you should be. Now, this is a real conundrum for a lot of us in our 20s.

I saw this quote the other day that it feels like between the ages of 18 and 35, we're all in some imaginary race and we're not sure what the race is, but we know that we're behind. That is really what this period in our life feels like. And a lot of it does come down to comparison against our peers, but also comparison against this weird indoctrinated blueprint that we all seem to understand.

I saw this quote the other day that it feels like between the ages of 18 and 35, we're all in some imaginary race and we're not sure what the race is, but we know that we're behind. That is really what this period in our life feels like. And a lot of it does come down to comparison against our peers, but also comparison against this weird indoctrinated blueprint that we all seem to understand.

I saw this quote the other day that it feels like between the ages of 18 and 35, we're all in some imaginary race and we're not sure what the race is, but we know that we're behind. That is really what this period in our life feels like. And a lot of it does come down to comparison against our peers, but also comparison against this weird indoctrinated blueprint that we all seem to understand.

We all seem to have this weird sense that by 30, you know, we probably should be married. By 25, we should be knowing what we want to do with our career. By 28, we should have met our best friends. We should have bought a home. There are all these like seemingly important milestones to hit before you reach your 30s. And the thing is, all of those milestones are external.

We all seem to have this weird sense that by 30, you know, we probably should be married. By 25, we should be knowing what we want to do with our career. By 28, we should have met our best friends. We should have bought a home. There are all these like seemingly important milestones to hit before you reach your 30s. And the thing is, all of those milestones are external.

We all seem to have this weird sense that by 30, you know, we probably should be married. By 25, we should be knowing what we want to do with our career. By 28, we should have met our best friends. We should have bought a home. There are all these like seemingly important milestones to hit before you reach your 30s. And the thing is, all of those milestones are external.

We do not compare important measures like happiness. We do not compare important things like growth, like self-knowledge, authenticity. We don't think about how far advanced we are in terms of our emotions and how we internally feel. We are really focused on the external. how our life appears to other people and that is a huge source of disappointment and sadness and frustration.

We do not compare important measures like happiness. We do not compare important things like growth, like self-knowledge, authenticity. We don't think about how far advanced we are in terms of our emotions and how we internally feel. We are really focused on the external. how our life appears to other people and that is a huge source of disappointment and sadness and frustration.

We do not compare important measures like happiness. We do not compare important things like growth, like self-knowledge, authenticity. We don't think about how far advanced we are in terms of our emotions and how we internally feel. We are really focused on the external. how our life appears to other people and that is a huge source of disappointment and sadness and frustration.

Birthdays I think just really naturally bring that out. I will also say we also are very very focused to our fault at comparing ourselves to people who are doing better than us. We often engage in what we call upward social comparison, knowing that it's going to make us feel bad, knowing that it's going to hurt our self-concept and our self-esteem, but we just can't help ourselves.

Birthdays I think just really naturally bring that out. I will also say we also are very very focused to our fault at comparing ourselves to people who are doing better than us. We often engage in what we call upward social comparison, knowing that it's going to make us feel bad, knowing that it's going to hurt our self-concept and our self-esteem, but we just can't help ourselves.

Birthdays I think just really naturally bring that out. I will also say we also are very very focused to our fault at comparing ourselves to people who are doing better than us. We often engage in what we call upward social comparison, knowing that it's going to make us feel bad, knowing that it's going to hurt our self-concept and our self-esteem, but we just can't help ourselves.

It's like we almost convince ourselves subconsciously, mentally, that if I feel bad enough about where I am, maybe that will force me to work harder. If I look at someone that I'm envious of or that makes me feel less accomplished, maybe that's this weird sense of self-punishment that's going to motivate me. And that is absolutely not the case.

It's like we almost convince ourselves subconsciously, mentally, that if I feel bad enough about where I am, maybe that will force me to work harder. If I look at someone that I'm envious of or that makes me feel less accomplished, maybe that's this weird sense of self-punishment that's going to motivate me. And that is absolutely not the case.

It's like we almost convince ourselves subconsciously, mentally, that if I feel bad enough about where I am, maybe that will force me to work harder. If I look at someone that I'm envious of or that makes me feel less accomplished, maybe that's this weird sense of self-punishment that's going to motivate me. And that is absolutely not the case.

There is no big finish line that we are all working towards. Not one single person on this planet has the exact same goals and the exact same vision of what their life looks like. It's all... And even people who get to the point or even people who you admire for getting to the point that you want to be, they are still looking at their life and feeling some sense of dissatisfaction.