Welcome back! To the never-ending rat race called life. Filled with comparison, envy, growing frustration, and an inability to genuinely feel happy for people who seem to be achieving everything we once planned for ourselves.
I’m not calling anyone out. I’m simply putting into words what many of us feel but rarely admit out loud.
Because there are things we admit to others, and things we don’t even admit to ourselves. Envy is one of them. And maybe the uncomfortable truth isn’t that we feel it—but that we pretend we don’t.
PERSONAL FLASHBACK
I remember being in 10th grade when a girl once told me, “You know, I envy you, Shruti.”
At the time, I didn’t even understand that envy was just a polished word for jealousy. I took it as a compliment.
Only later did I understand what she actually meant.
And strangely, I respected her for it. She didn’t hide it or pretend otherwise. That honesty stayed with me.
THE SHIFT FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADULTHOOD
Back then, life felt simple. Things were either compliments or insults—clear and easy to understand.
But adulthood changes that.
We stop feeling emotions in their raw form. Instead, we analyse, compare, and overthink everything, trying to make sense of ourselves through logic alone.
And somewhere in that process, life starts feeling heavier than it actually is.
INTRODUCING THE QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS
This is where the shift truly begins. The transition from childhood innocence to becoming a confused, anxious adult trying to figure everything out at once.
Entering your 20s is a challenge in itself. We make plans for the next 5–10 years, convinced life will somehow cooperate with us perfectly.
No backup plans. No room for uncertainty.
Until life humbles us.
What can we say? Life never came with a manual. It throws us into uncharted waters and expects us to learn how to swim.
And somehow, we do.
Not because we know what we’re doing—but because everyone else is learning too. Quietly. Clumsily. In their own way.
No one truly knows how to navigate life. We just make choices, live with them, and hope they lead us somewhere meaningful.
And maybe that’s what makes all the difference. Choices.
THE SILENT PRESSURE OF ADULTHOOD AND SOCIAL MEDIA
And maybe that’s the frightening part about being in your 20s.
Not the failure. Not the uncertainty.
But realising that nobody truly has life figured out—not even the people who look like they do.
The people you envy?
The people who seem ahead of you?
They are navigating the same uncertainty too.
Some are simply better at hiding it.
Social media certainly helps maintain the illusion.
A promotion here. A relationship there.
Someone buying their dream house while someone else moves abroad for their “dream life.”
Meanwhile, you’re just trying to survive another ordinary Tuesday, wondering if the world is moving ahead without you.
WHY COMPARISON FEELS WORSE IN YOUR 20S
That’s when comparison begins. Slowly at first. Then all at once.
You start measuring lives through timelines.
Who’s earning more.
Who’s happier.
Who has life figured out.
Who is “winning.”
And before you realise it, your life stops being your own. It becomes a race with no finish line.
A race you never consciously signed up for, yet somehow feel pressured to win.
Maybe that’s why so many people feel lost in their 20s.
Because we were taught how to chase success, not how to process confusion.
How to achieve, not how to slow down when we burn out.
So when life doesn’t unfold the way we imagined, we mistake uncertainty for failure.
When in reality, it’s just growth in a form we were never prepared for.
HOW TO NAVIGATE A QUARTER LIFE CRISIS
Maybe surviving your 20s is less about having all the answers and more about learning how to live with the questions.
And while there’s no perfect way to navigate this phase of life, there are a few things worth remembering:
- Stop measuring your life through someone else’s timeline.
People grow differently.
2. Learn to sit with failure instead of treating it like the end of the world.
Sometimes failure is redirection.
3. Take breaks without guilt.
Rest is not laziness.
4. And most importantly, stop being so harsh on yourself.
You are trying to figure life out while living it at the same time.
Maybe the quarter-life crisis was never meant to destroy us.
Maybe it exists to humble us.
To slow us down.
To force us to look inward instead of constantly looking around.
Because eventually, you realise life is not a competition with the people around you.
It is simply the relationship you build with yourself while growing through it all.
A SMALL NOTE BEFORE I LEAVE
And perhaps that is why I keep returning to writing.
As difficult as it can be to put thoughts into words, there is something comforting about writing honestly and knowing that somewhere, someone resonates with it.
And honestly, that feeling never gets old.
This month also marks 6 years of Dark Ink on the internet. Six years of thoughts, emotions, chaos, and growth poured into words.
Here’s my very first article – Dreamers and Achievers
A huge milestone, if you ask me.
Definitely one that deserves a coffee celebration.
Because being a writer is a privilege in itself.
To write.
To feel.
To be understood.
I think that is beautiful—and worth living for.
— Yours truly, in dark ink and deeper thoughts,
Shruti
The Dark Ink 
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