I wasted two years of my life.

“I regret wasting two years of my life” was something I said during a recent conversation with my husband.

His immediate response was “you did not waste it. You used it to learn. You have grown as a person. You have acquired new skills. You are a better version of yourself. Don’t you think?”

I gave it a thought and answered with a big YES. Yes, I did learn a lot. Although, an impulsive decision initially, I saw through

– Building my own blog site.

– Writing articles for the site. Did research, edited, proofread, all by myself.

– Promoting those articles on my socials.

– Accepted content writing jobs. Wrote articles for other sites (great feeling btw)

– Learned how the digital writing world works.

– Simultaneously, joined & learned from online courses and creators.

And, I still continue to do all those things(while working a full-time corporate job).

So why do I still feel like a failure and regret wasting time? 

Maybe because social media makes you quantify your achievements in terms of big milestones like a six-figure income, awards, or a dream job without putting in any effort. While all these are amazing achievements and kudos to those who achieve them. 

One should not define success by only these parameters. You should define what success means to you on your own terms.

It could be anything from waking up at 6 am, doing at least 30 minutes of exercise every day, writing one page, or reading at least 5 pages of that book every day. It could be spending more time with family and friends, or trying that new recipe that you wanted.

Success is you becoming a better version of yourself every SINGLE day.

So, instead of saying I wasted my time, I said I invested two years of my life in learning and growing my skills. And, today I am a much better person than I was before because of that. 

If you feel you have wasted your time doing nothing, reassess and reassure yourself of what you have actually achieved. (Unless you have really wasted it just sitting on the couch and binge-watching, just kidding.)

I realized that I am not in a race with anyone but myself. I need not compare myself with any other person but myself. The goal is to better myself and ask myself did I achieve that goal. If the answer is YES then I am successful.

As the saying goes, “Self-realization is the best kind of realization.”

Don’t you think?

What does success mean to you?