Does anyone else ever feel like this?

[Dusty]

Feelings that the lives of everyone around you are progressing/have progressed much faster than yours? While you have been wasting away in you're MD world...

Surprise at how far people your age or younger have come with their life experiences compared to you, in the same amount of time or less?

I feel like this a lot... :C

Things like...

Waking up and realizing I'm the only person at school without a smart phone, when a couple years mine was one of the most common phones.

Realizing I'm the only person in a group of like, 20 who hasn't been to a certain club or gone to another country with their friends or something.

Waking up and realizing 80-90% of people my age aren't virgins, when just a couple years ago it was 50%.

Etc.

[Carly Cole]

but in our minds, we're very much experienced just or much more than them . . . .

[Madelyn]

"...or prefer my own company (and that of my DDs) to the inane chatter and meaningless platitudes favoured by people in my age group. I revel in my solitude more often than not because I at least get an intelligent conversation out of it."

Hahaha, I've often thought the same but never wanted to admit it out loud!

Smart phones? Just wait until everyone around you is married, buying houses and on to their 3rd perfect child. Those kids you used to baby sit? Yeah, that's them over there, driving sports cars and curing cancer.
That's when you really start to scratch your head and wonder where you went wrong...

[Thandimanillon]

This has happened to me several times, but I'm not 100% sure that I dislike the realisation that I'm one of the few that hasn't lost it for the sake of losing it, or prefer my own company (and that of my DDs) to the inane chatter and meaningless platitudes favoured by people in my age group. I revel in my solitude more often than not because I at least get an intelligent conversation put of it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm somewhat disheartened to be the tortoise of my group of friends, but they like me anyway, so it's not like its a huge issue for me.

Rather than letting popular inion of where you should be in life rule what you do, how you think, and who you are, do what makes you happy. If that includes things that "everyone is doing", go for it! If that's not who you are or what you want, don't do it! Yes, the urge to conform and be like others is strong, but being yourself is way more important and will serve you better in the long run.

Life isn't fair, and trying to be someone or something your not just makes it even worse. I tried, for many many years and made myself miserable in the process. Who knows, the people you are comparing yourself to and finding yourself lacking may be doing the exact same thing to themselves, with you as the example.

[Catauxgory]

I hear what you're saying, and I have felt that way too. Recognize that it is a very self-defeating attitude. No matter what, others who don't daydream are automatically light years ahead of you in life? But where does that leave you, or anybody who daydreams for that matter?

Basically you should not compare yourself to other people, because you will never be them and they will never be you. Literally all you can do in life is appreciate yourself, and appreciate others. Life is not a great big race to some finish line. It is about experience. Both external AND internal experience. So don't discount your daydream life as a "waste". Feel good about the daydreaming you have done because it has brought you to the realizations and outlook you have today.

At the same time, realize that daydreamers are very lucky people because they get to walk both sides of the coin in life. We can have all the things non-daydreams have AND we can have our daydreams. 

[taffle]

I used to feel this way but not anymore. Just because another person has gotten a driver's license, went to another country, gone to parties, and lost their virginity doesn't mean they're automatically more mature than me. In these categories there are lots of immaturity going on. I also don't own a smartphone because I can't afford one and don't have need for one at this time. It's ok to take life at your own pace.