If you're like me, you feel like you're still in your awkward stage. What that basically means is that I feel like I haven't yet reached my prime. And this is in all aspects of my life: academically, personally, socially and mentally. I'm not sure about what I want to do with my life; I'm still in the stage where I feel like I can do so many things and that's awkward to me. I'm slowly outgrowing my introverted nature but I still don't feel like I'm the best at making friends and connecting with people and that's awkward to me. I don't feel ugly but I don't feel like I've had my 'glow up" and that's awkward to me.

These aren't things that I think about on a day-to-day basis but certain things (especially SOCIAL MEDIA) make me remember these aspects of myself that make me feel awkward and I'm reminded that I'm not at the stage that I feel I should be at, at least in my opinion. Seeing girls on social media that look and act a certain way make me question why I don't look and act like that, especially when these girls are my age or even younger. Am I not doing enough? Their 300,000 Instagram followers seem to think I'm not.

I know I'm not alone in having these thoughts, so if you see yourself asking these same questions, I have 2 pieces of advice for you:

You are exactly where you need to be. Everyone has a different path in life and just because you feel like someone is in a better place than you doesn't mean that that is where you need to be. Whether this is mentally or physically, whatever point you are at in your life is exactly where you need to be to experience growth. So just be patient.

Don't assume you know what's going on with someone because of what you see online. There have been so many cases of people having depression, committing suicide or having some other mental issue despite leading seemingly happy lives on social media. So do not think that you need someone's life just because of what they put on the internet. People only show the best aspects of themselves online so you do not know what struggles they've been through to get to the place where they are. Focusing on your own lane will take you much further than if you're constantly looking at where other people are in the race.