Sticking To Your Own Path.

You can go on any social media platform right now, and see someone your age doing what you're doing but way ahead of you, faster, and in a cool, unique way. We can scroll through all of this fluff and feel so behind when we snap out of it. Many can relate to that feeling of headache and brain fog after this. You can write a book, and AI can write a book with an intricate storyline and perfect grammar way faster than you ever could - but it can't write your book.

Why would we even start the climb if someone else is already at the top - should we even bother?

Because none of that was ever the point. We start because we want to build something fantastic that is uniquely ours, the same way some of the people we see online build something wonderful that is theirs. Sometimes people see others doing the thing they want to do and feel behind. However, the truth is that we are not in a race with those people, and just because they are getting a piece of the pie does not mean that there won't be plenty left - more than you could ever eat.

We are not trying to be the next whoever - the big name in the thing we are trying to learn right now; we are trying to be ourselves. The things we learn, build, and try - they run through all our imperfections, taste, judgment, and the way our brains connect things. We can take inspiration from the people doing great things; in fact it can be wonderful to learn from the way they think and act.

However, should we take something that is uniquely someone else's to plaster over our own weirdness, authenticity, and originality?

Absolutely not.

No one is better at being them than them, so it's much better to just build yourself up every day. The day you're the one people look up to in whatever you put your unique spin on, you'll know that it was being in competition with yourself and staying on your unique path that made all the difference.

Why does the comparison feel so real if it's not a race?

It feels so real because social media and AI are always right there - social media showing you everyone ahead of you, AI making you wonder if your input is necessary - it is. But comparing yourself to either one misses the point: other people aren't you, and AI isn't you. AI is a tool that enhances what you bring - it doesn't replace it, because it can't be you in the first place. When we get caught up in how well someone else is doing, we are not progressing ourselves at all. But the value of someone else's uniqueness does not degrade our own.