This comment was such a delight to read, Caela! I’m lol-ing (OMG, do the young people even SAY “lol” anymore!? I don’t know because I’m THIRTY now). I’m so glad that I was able to pull off some Inception-level hijinks and help plant seeds from your future self. ????
This is completely spot-on in general, and also a very accurate description of my own Achilles heel: “Comparison is the thief of joy but impatience is her evil, unassuming twin.” UH HUH, YES, FOR SURE. Alan Watts was VERY right. If you can’t be happy now, you can’t really be happy at all. And yet, you’re also allowed to be frustrated and pissed and confused and throw tantrums sometimes. It’s always both/and. So long as you don’t let the frustration and impatience make you miss all the good stuff that’s happening right now–and there IS so much good stuff happening now!
I think SO many of us would love to have realized the things you know now, at your age. You are WAY ahead of the game already. Which isn’t always a comfort in the moment, I know, but from my now 30-year-old perspective, I’m not worried about you AT ALL. I know that, given where you are now, you’re gonna get where you’re going for sure. Who knows exactly when and how (and don’t bother too hard trying to figure it out, because it never unfolds the way we expect anyway!), but you’ve got all the raw materials and plenty more to spare. It’s really just a matter of time, and allowing yourself to have fun and experiment and find small things to get excited about and letting it unfold one step at a time.
Keep us posted, as always! I can’t wait to watch your progress. 🙂