how to deal in your 20s: social comparison vs financial freedom
Picture this: you’re a girlie in your 20s, working for someone else, unfulfilled with the reality of a 9 to 5, and recently found you actually want to make money online, become self-employed, become financially free, and then you stumble across all those Tiktoks of teenage millionaires, having you wish you had started earlier.
If that sounds like a bit, or a WHOLE OF A LOT, like you, then carry on reading.
And how would I know you may ask? Because if this blog post had been made any sooner, it would have been made exactly for me too.
I aim to lighten up this topic, and discuss some of the things we probably all think about, or dwell on (for a little too long at times), with the desire to reassure and connect with you all on something that is completely normal, relatable, and doesn’t make you any less-than when it comes to the visualised boss woman aspirations you have for yourself.
Being in full effect is exactly that; having to go through the mindset shifts, the pushing through your self-inflicted resistance, going through technical hurdles, the exposure to comparison, the self-doubt feelings arising, the day-to-day personal challenges, and figuring it all out while being in your 20s.
I fully get it.
I am her, we are all her.
It gets overwhelming when you think of it like that, and that’s how it gets even more so when we then start to take comparison from what we see others having done online, and further expand on these thoughts and feelings to then question why you didn’t start your financial freedom sooner.
I’ll take all the time out of you answering that question, because it’s as simple as, you didn’t start sooner because you just were not that kind of person back then.
This is completely fine, and should be something that actually STOPS you from ever wishing you started sooner! Confused?
Well if you were any kind of other person back in your teens, you wouldn’t be the amazing, unique, driven woman you are today in your 20s, because every single experience you would have had in life up to now would have been different. Take any of it away and your unmatched combination of beautiful perfection would simply not exist in the same way.
We need to be so grateful, and happy for who we are, who we have become, and realise that this is all AS A RESULT of every lived experience up to now.
Now ofcourse, let’s say it as it is since no one’s listening, we’re obviously going to be ALSO thinking…I mean, would it be nice to NOT be working that 9 to 5? YES.
Would it be nice to provide the financial freedom to our families that work so hard all their life? YES.
Would it be nice to be in control of how we spend our days, and be living out our biggest dreams? YES.
Would it be nice to have more time to feel fitter, look fitter, have more energy for our hobbies? YES, YES and YES.
The list can go on, and I’m sure you get where I was heading here…
However, everything requires a process, a learning experience, a personal development that comes along with it, as well as the self-discovery itself of what your dreams actually are.
In that, we all have our different times, and I’m here to tell you that that’s okay!
reassurance
Life is all about being that exactly; being in its fullest effect: taking us through unexpected turns, different paths, career shifts, friendship choices, without us never having foreseen this a few years, or even months, prior.
What matters is that NOW you have that desire within you to make that money online, quit that 9 to 5 job, pursue the life of your dreams in your 20s. DO IT ALL.
Don’t let social media sway you from embracing how amazing you are, how amazing your life is, and how truly unique your path is.
We have acknowledged it would be amazing to have the financial freedom certain 17-year olds have already achieved, but they were brought up in a slightly-different time, with different circumstances, different societal norms, that all shifted them that way.
Just because we are in our 20s, it doesn’t make us any less-than! I mean, our life is literally waiting for us to unfold it as we want and please.
Life happened in our teens the exact way it was supposed to, and it’s not now that our new goals in life will have us feeling like life should have been lived any differently.
We owe our younger, current and future selves all the love, admiration and gratitude we deserve. Our ‘normal’ is gorgeous, and we get so used to it, we take it for granted. Look more within at what’s beautiful in your life, and within you, rather than looking to strangers who we know nothing of, but also don’t matter to our authentic happiness.
Don’t get too hung up on how others are living their lives, how others tell you to live your life (within reason, your loved ones would always have the best intention at-heart we would expect), and where others are in their financial journeys!
Another big point to add here is that WISHING will surely not get us there, it will only keep us trapped in our minds as to what our unrealistic perfection demands. This sit-down talk is needed for all of us, because as long as we all continue to feed these thoughts, the less time and energy we allow for the actual growth that is turning our dream life a reality.
The more and more we act on our dream self and life, the more we get to live it with intention and in full effect.
So here comes some ACTIONABLES to help kickstart your success into full effect, by FIRST getting over social comparison.
homework: ACTIONABLES
- Remove and Unfollow People on Social Media that trigger you.
That’s right! We need to make our lives easier by detoxing our social media consumption.
We do not need constant reminders that those younger than us are living out our financial freedom dreams, because guess what?
- There are MILLIONS OF OTHERS.
- That will not get us any closer to living out our dream life in full effect.
Harsh, but we need to support each other through these hurdles, and it all starts with these small steps.
- Either Write it out or Talk it out
Let’s all break the ice here, and acknowledge that most of us find it helpful to have full-blown conversations with ourselves out-loud, in order to work through what we are thinking and feeling.
I’d say that is self-love in full effect, to sit yourself down and talk it through as you would your best-friend, but hey that’s just me.
So, whether you prefer to talk or write in a journal, I would recommend clearly confronting these feelings and concept, and asking:
- Why does it make you feel a type of way?
- How could you have possibly done anything different if you were not who you are today?
- Acknowledge the different resources, circumstances, and media teens now have that we didn’t.
- List out what you love about yourself (we can only love who we are because we’ve had the exact life we have lived up until now).
- Write down some closure affirmations, for example “This will no longer hinder me” “I will no longer compare my journey to others”.
- Take a few deep breaths, and be present with yourself.
- Write down how you will start taking action on your dream life this week (aim small and realistic – Blog post coming soon on this one!). Any action taken is you moving forward already.
There we have it!
A more mindset-kind of chat today, as we have deliberated on the common inhibiting thoughts we all experience from social media comparison, how we need to reframe our thoughts to perceive our reality as it is (which is you in your present stance, moving forward), and the homework actionables to get you on your way to living your 20s in your fullest effect, and not through the lens of others’.
Thanks for joining me, and comment if you can relate on any of this!
Check out my other blog posts on relatable life in your 20s, making money online, and my own personal journey to financial freedom.