 You know, whenever we're not sure what to do in our life, whether it's what path to take or it's what person to date or not date or what career to take up or what career to leave behind, it's really tempting to look to others for what to do. And when we do that, we often compare ourselves and sometimes just feel like a failure or like there's something wrong with us. In this video, I want to share a few stories that I think can really help change your mind about this. I am Alex Hine, author of the book Milk the Pigeon, a field guide for anyone lost in their 20s. If you feel like you're trying to figure out how to build an incredible meaningful life, check this book out on Amazon. I've included a link for you below this video, which is for a free goal setting worksheet to help you design this year to make it the best year you've ever had in your life. So you can check that out right at the bottom below this. So when I graduated college, all my friends were doing what you're supposed to do. They were all going out and getting these safe, secure jobs. You know, regardless of whether or not it was something related to their major, whether it was pre-med, whether it was biology, whether it was environmental science or business, they were all going out just trying to get a job. Now this was in 2009 at the peak of one of the recessions here in the U.S. And so people were really playing it safe and really caving due to fear. So while all my friends were getting these safe, secure jobs, I also got a safe, secure job. But about nine months later when I was very jaded, very unhappy and very unfulfilled, I was feeling this feeling of listlessness. Like I felt grateful that I had a job, but I didn't really want to do this any longer. Like I was not interested in having the same job for 40 years. Like you always hear about grandpa in 1920 working at the pencil factory. I didn't want to have that. So here I am, little Alex, 23 or 24, and I buy this one-way ticket to China. Now as I'm flying over to China, barely speaking Chinese, I'm sitting there reflecting on my life because all my friends were getting into long-term relationships, settling down. Some were even getting married in their early 20s. They were building their careers. They were building their resumes. You know, in this whole time I'm doing this crazy ridiculous thing, flying to China on a one-way ticket, planning to never come back in pursuit of my dream or whatever my goals were at that time. So all the while I'm just sitting there wondering like, what is wrong with me? Because I guarantee everyone else in my life was wondering the exact same thing. What is wrong with Alex? Now before I get to the resolution, there's another story that was very similar that led to me feeling like this, what is wrong with me? Why can't I just be happy? People always would say that with the way things are, with the normal life. I was in a long-term relationship after coming back from China. I was dating a great girl for five years and I bought the fourth year into our relationship. You know, all my 20s, I've been looking for work I loved. That's all I wanted. Meaningful work to spend 10 hours a day doing because I could not stand working for other people in work that was meaningless to me. So around 28, 29, I find that Chinese medicine is this thing that I'm super, super excited about. I do a West Coast tour and I go to all the schools. The excitement just builds and builds and builds. And then I realize like, this is what I really want to do for the rest of my life or certainly the next phase of my life. So I'm speaking to one of our family, friends one night outside, we're having a glass of wine in the summer, beautiful out. And she says, you know, you've been dating for so long, why don't you just settle down and get married. And I would hate to see you leave her. Leave the relationship just for a dream is what she said to me. I would hate to see you leave her and this relationship just for a dream. So yet again, there I am, Alex, thinking something is wrong with me because I'm not doing what everyone else is doing or what everyone else believes is the correct way to live. But here's what happened from all of those events, not playing it safe, trusting the dream and trusting my unique path. Going to China got me well onto the path of becoming a successful entrepreneur and author, eventually a Chinese medicine doctor, getting into relationships that were more aligned with where I wanted to go in the future with most important to me, the feeling of excitement and aliveness and feeling like I'm on the path that I really want to be on in life. This feeling that I now know what I'm here to do. So the short answer is everything worked out better than I ever could have dreamed of. And you have to learn to trust your path. You have to learn to trust your timing. The timing right now may be all your friends are settling down and getting married person you're with. Frankly, it's just not the person you want to be with forever. So you have to trust that being single is the right thing to do because it's more aligned with your truth. And if that means that you're single to your 35 or 37, then you settle down, then you have to trust that that is trusting your path. And if your path means guess what, you're taking the risk of being an entrepreneur. And so by 30, your broker than you've ever been and your friends are doing really well. Trust your path that it's going to take time to be a successful entrepreneur. And that's what you have to do. And you don't know when it's going to happen for you. Trust your path. If you want something different, it's going to look different in the timeline. And you can't compare in that timeline because it's not going to make sense. You're going to feel like there's something wrong with you. All right. So if you want the journal exercise below and help you figure out exactly what you want and how to make it happen going forward, and then before you go, I have two related videos on the topic here.