There are moments when life looks fine from the outside, yet inside there’s a quiet, uncomfortable thought: I feel behind.
Not behind compared to one specific person, but behind an invisible timeline your mind seems to carry everywhere. I’ve noticed this feeling in myself lately, even while doing work I care deeply about, growing professionally, and evolving as a person. That’s when I realised how easily our mind can trick us, and how convincing it can sound if we don’t stop to question it.
Why does our mind forget what we’ve achieved?
We set goals, start working on them, and then somehow forget what we’ve already done. Slowly, almost without noticing, we start believing we are not doing enough. That belief is powerful, and often completely inaccurate.
From what I’ve read, observed, and experienced, this happens because the brain is not designed to celebrate progress. It’s designed to scan for problems. Psychology calls this negativity bias. Our nervous system is always asking: What’s missing? What’s unfinished? What could go wrong next?
So even when you’re moving forward, your mind whispers: Yes, but you’re not there yet. And that’s how the feeling of being behind in life is born.
Growth becomes invisible when you live inside it
Another reason we forget our achievements is adaptation. What once felt like a huge step becomes normal very quickly. Confidence you worked hard for becomes your baseline. Better clients become your standard. Boundaries you once struggled with feel obvious now.
This is called hedonic adaptation, and it means that growth often erases its own memory. You don’t feel proud anymore because you expect this version of yourself to exist. But that doesn’t mean the growth didn’t happen, it means you integrated it.
As professionals and entrepreneurs, this is especially common. We’re always looking ahead, measuring ourselves against future goals instead of past realities. We judge our present self using expectations that belong to a version of us that hasn’t arrived yet.
A simple question to bring perspective back
One of the most honest ways I’ve found to ground this feeling is to ask myself a simple question:
Would I want to be the same person I was at the beginning of 2025?
Not just in terms of results, but in how I think, react, make decisions, and see myself. If the answer is no, if I wouldn’t want to go back, then something important has changed. And that means progress has happened, even if it doesn’t look dramatic on paper.
If you wouldn’t choose to be that past version of yourself again, then you are not behind. You are evolving.
Why achievements don’t always register emotionally
Our minds tend to store intense emotions: fear, stress, disappointment. Quiet progress doesn’t always leave a strong emotional mark. Inner changes, like self-trust, clarity, or emotional maturity, are subtle. They don’t shout for attention.
So your life improves, but your internal story doesn’t update.
This is why people who are doing well can still feel stuck. The improvement happened internally first, and the mind hasn’t fully caught up yet.
Visual reminders help us see the truth
This is one reason I strongly believe in visual tools. A vision board, a written list of goals, or even revisiting old notes can be incredibly grounding. When you check what you once wanted and compare it with where you are now, reality becomes harder to distort.
As a photographer, I see this very clearly through images. Portraits don’t just show how someone looks, they show presence. Posture. Gaze. How a person occupies space. There is a noticeable difference between a client’s first session and their second. They are more confident, they understand the guidance much faster, and they approach the session with a far more positive attitude, not only towards being photographed, but towards their own image. And yet, very often, that change is not perceived by them.
You’re not behind. you’ve outgrown an old version of yourself
Feeling behind in life doesn’t mean you’re failing. It often means your identity is changing faster than your self-perception.
You don’t forget your achievements. You forget who you used to be.
You forget the doubts you lived with. The fears you navigated. The skills you didn’t yet have. Growth quietly removes the memory of limitation, and while that’s beautiful, it can be disorienting if we don’t pause to reflect.
So if you’re a professional or entrepreneur feeling this way, consider this a gentle reminder:
You don’t feel behind because you’re not doing enough. You feel behind because you’ve outgrown the version of you who once dreamed of this life, and your mind hasn’t caught up yet.
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Thank you for reading.
Bye for now.