When You Feel Like You’re Falling Behind

A Reminder You Might Need Today
by Amina Suleiman

There are days when it feels as though everyone else has their life sorted except you. Someone has launched a business. Someone else is getting engaged. Another person is suddenly “finding themselves” on a week-long trip to Bali. And you’re sitting there wondering what you’re even doing with your life.

I remember a day not long ago when I felt exactly like that. My WhatsApp was full of engagement photos, graduation announcements, and “I just got promoted” messages. I congratulated everyone with a smile, but inside, I felt that familiar tightening in my chest. That whisper of, ‘You’re falling behind’.

Later that day I bumped into a girl I know at my local café. She’s one of those people who always looks effortlessly put together. I half-expected her to say something like, “Oh my god, I’ve just achieved this amazing thing.” But instead she sighed, stirred her tea, and said, “I feel like everyone my age has their life together except me.”

I almost laughed, not at her, but at the irony. There she was, someone I thought was soaring, quietly thinking she was stuck on the ground.

We ended up talking for nearly an hour. No filters. No pretending. Just two human beings admitting that life feels messy and uneven sometimes. And honestly? It was one of the most comforting conversations I’ve had in ages.

It reminded me of something important — something we often forget:

Everyone is fighting an invisible battle.
Everyone is navigating something.
Everyone is learning as they go along.

We’re not behind. We’re simply moving at our own pace.

If you needed a reminder today, let this be yours:

1. Your timeline is not meant to look like anyone else’s.

Allah created each of us with unique tests, unique strengths, and unique timings. Your path isn’t delayed; it’s tailored.

2. What you see online is someone’s highlight reel, not their real life.

People don’t upload their nights of crying, their self-doubt, their heartbreak, their confusion. You’re comparing your reality to someone else’s filtered moment.

3. Small progress counts. Even if no one else sees it.

Getting out of bed when you didn’t feel like it. Showing up to work. Trying again after failing. These things matter.

4. You are allowed to rest. You’re allowed to breathe. You’re allowed to not have everything figured out.

There is no shame in being human.

Later that evening, after my chat with my friend, I felt lighter. Not because anything in my life had suddenly changed, but because I had changed the way I was looking at things. I realised I wasn’t alone in feeling lost sometimes. None of us are.

So if you’re reading this and your chest feels tight from the pressure of “I should be further by now,” take a deep breath.

You’re not falling behind.
You’re growing – quietly, slowly, beautifully, in ways that cannot be measured by milestones or timelines.

And one day, when things fall into place (and they will), you’ll look back and realise this chapter wasn’t wasted. It was preparing you.

If today is heavy, be gentle with yourself. If today is confusing, trust that clarity will come. And if today you feel alone, remember that somewhere out there, maybe even reading this with you, is someone who feels the same.

You’re doing better than you think. Truly.