Following My Own Pace
After reading some articles, I am convinced that I don’t need to worry about how “fast” I am trying to go because life isn’t a race. Life is not a competition. And I don’t have to run faster than others. Regarding success, it seems that we have to achieve something within a certain timeline, such as going to university/college and finishing it at aged 22, getting married in our 30s, buying a house in our 40s, and progressing throughout the career consistently, etc. But, how about if I don’t follow the normal timeline? Can I just simply follow my own pace in my life? Is it OK that I can take my time to do my own things? If I do not meet these normal standards, am I “behind” or a “failure” somehow? Anyway, life isn’t a race. I can understand the pressure and the feelings associated with the timeline. So many people follow the normal rules in the world. It is also natural to compare ourselves to others. We’re social beings, after all. We see people starting new jobs, having bought property, graduations, engagements, marriages, holidays, and childbirths. Then, they come the second child, a promotion, the next holiday, the child becoming the star player of his local football team, the next promotion, grandchildren, a second home, a successful second career, and so on. But, in fact, we still can know that people make changes all the time. Why not we could just make things happen at our own paces?
We all experience setbacks, right?! Actually, we all experience setbacks from time to time. It is really unfair to say that we have failed because we have experienced something that we did not like or anticipate. It’s better that we know what we want, and work towards it. But who knows? Some people are lucky enough to know what they want to do from a young age. Others figure it out later. Others currently do not know what they want to do surely. Perhaps, we just cannot know what is going on behind the scenes. It is, indeed, easy to look at people successfully, particularly, those who are the same age of ours. I can even realize that good things always take time. It’s never too late to do things. Everyone is different. Things happen differently for different people. Therefore, it’s actually no need to compare my life to others. I should work at my own pace and follow my own ways. Notwithstanding, nowadays, things are up in the air (事情懸而不決). As a matter of fact, finding a secure job and reaching financial stability have all become difficult for many people. People blame themselves for their lack of “success.” Failure is, in effect, an integral part of our lives, right now, and do lead to setbacks. Failure is uncomfortable. And it hurts. It hurts a lot. In this case, I think, for me, I might try something to change, instead of focusing on failure.
 When some people fail, they might be quick to brand themselves as a “failure.” Nevertheless, failure is temporary. It could be a feeling and it can be changed. When we fail or experience setbacks for something, the experiences can be quite unpleasant. Failure and setbacks often feel painful, but these feelings are temporary. It’s, possibly, OK to feel down from it, but it will pass. The pain will fade away, and it certainly will be replaced with resolve and hope if we are optimistic enough. Later, undoubtedly, it will be learning experiences to us. We learn lessons from our setbacks and failure for sure. Hereafter, we realize that we truly have our own paces to do things in our lives. Yes. It’s powerful to follow my own pace. We ought to acknowledge that certain things are beyond our control. Within our race, we have already played the cards in the best possible ways. We, then, try to practice self-acceptance, self-improvement, self-esteem and self-reliance. Learning not to compare ourselves to others requires time and practice. There is quite about simply saying “I am enough,” and appreciating the journey of our endeavors. Recently, I have been playing the piano by myself without the teacher. I should have followed the notes to play the song accordingly, but it’s not easy for me to finish the whole piano music without the teacher’s instructions. So I, personally, change the musical notes to fit in the styles that I am familiar with. It sounds great and wonderful for me to enjoy the music because I can play easily and smoothly. Wow! I even don’t know that I can do such a silly thing to amuse myself. How happy I am to have such a change! Well, maybe I am wrong not to listen to the teacher’s guidance. Yet, I am glad and I enjoy learning this way sometimes. It’s so pleased to follow my own pace. Afterwards, I got the lesson from the above-mentioned action. In the world, there are certain ways that we can improve our living standards to make happiness easier to achieve. Success isn’t directly correlated with effort, though. Life isn’t a race. I know that I can be happy wherever I am, and eventually find the right way forward for me whatever that may be. I only need to make small adjustments here and there to follow my own pace. Thereupon, I don’t worry about failure. It is just a matter of time until I succeed
Obviously, people make progress at different rates. The main point is that we should never give up trying things. The master has failed more times than the beginner has ever tried. The master knows of all eventualities, and plans accordingly for them. Therefore, we, definitely, have to try. We have to go through life knowing that we tried our best. Learning never ends. Once we follow our own paces to learn things, we get sense of achievement by ourselves. We are, thus, the big winners in our whole lives. The difference between those who find happiness and those who don’t is perseverance. We all face challenges and hardships. But the key to happiness is never to give up, no matter what we face. We all become better at things by trying. The most important thing is that we have to be daring to follow our own paces, and keep on going no matter how long it takes or how far it is.

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