Anyone else feel like ~99% of their life was kind of wasted? - eviltoast

In the last year or so I started to see so many people of my age that have done truly incredible things and still doing more.
For the vast majority of my life my only goals were gettimg academic satisfaction and doing unproductive stuff in the free time to get temporary pleasure. No end goal whatsoever.
I kind of don’t know what I’ve been doing in the last 17 years while someone gets a patent on solar systems, other invents a new recyclable plastic, and another found a successful startup. I mean, they all find what they’re supposed to be doing with their lives and excel in them.
I feel overwhelmed for trying to pace up with these kind of people. Yet I don’t like the way the things are and I can’t do anything but envy those people.
Anyone with experience in this regard? How did you deal with this? Did you eventually “pace up” with these people or was it too late or an unattainable goal?
Edit: Whoops, I didn’t expect so many replies! Thanks, I’ll look into them all

  • SoyTDI@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    1 year ago

    Because life doesn’t have a goal. There is no waste. That’s a point of view that makes people suffer needlessly. The objectives of a cow in a meadow are to eat grass, sleep, defecate and socialize a little. Many living things have even fewer requirements. They might have survival and reproduction in common, but if they don’t meet them, they haven’t lost either. For some humans, this may be depressing, but it would be if their perspective* has led them to reason that.

    *Their perspective and their context, because we are social animals and we do not live isolated from other people’s requests.