10 Things to Do if You’re Feeling Left Behind (and Need a Lift)
If you feel left behind in life, let me let you in on a few ways to deal with it. Feeling left behind is not a nice feeling, but I’ve been there…
At the start of this month I felt left behind.
Seemed like all my non-blogger friends were / are off having babies, sometimes going in for seconds, getting promotions, planning their weddings, just generally getting round that Game of Life board faster than me. While all my travel blogger friends are working on cool campaigns, creating better content, improving their businesses and picking up accolades while I can’t even clear my inbox.
Sometimes I get like that. I don’t like it. I definitely don’t like to admit it, but it happens. I just felt like everyone else was doing better than me. Getting further ahead.
Leaving me feeling left behind in life.
I think part of it was due to weeks of being in all day, inside my flat, by myself. I’m used to being out and about. I was working hard, trying to clear a backlog of work, but on the treadmill of bloglife I wasn’t really getting very far. Waiting for replies from clients, from a guy, and from friends was driving me a bit crazy.
I can’t even tell you how many times I’d check my phone looking for an answer.
Cabin fever.
So, I decided to do something about feeling left behind. I couldn’t keep going along at the same speed I was, I needed to feel like I was catching up somehow.
Here’s how I got out of that particular little funk…
What to do when you feel left behind in life
“I feel life behind” – sound like you? Have a read of these top tips and see if you can put any in to action to help your feel better about your lot.
1. Say yes to something different
A work opportunity came my way I normally would’ve said no to. I said yes and was excited to work on the project. It brightened up my month and gave me some time to think about what I want to do in the future, and why I was feeling like this. It got me away from my desk and back out into the world.
Say yes to something you wouldn’t normally, and even if nothing else comes of it, you’ll know not to say yes in the future, but at least you gave it another go. If you need a bit of a pep talk, then check out this list of trying new things quotes to give you that push.
2. Pinpoint the problem
If you can work out exactly what you’re feeling left behind on, it’ll help you work out what you can do.
There was a number of things for me – relationships, babies, work opportunities and skills, fitness, being able to cook anything but stir fries and eggs, the mess my room was…
But the only way I even knew to compare myself on any of the above, or even knew the leagues most of the people were in, was down to bloody Instagram.
I’d go on, scroll and feel considerably worse about myself when I finished. So I gave up. I had a dabble in South Africa, just because it looked so good and since then I’ve barely looked at the images, although I do like following my friend’s stories. Think I just needed a break from comparing myself in work, appearance, life, clothes, y’know, just