Watch this (it’s after Winona Ryder’s character, Lelaina puts all her effort into something, suffers a crushing disappointment and is coming to terms with who she was supposed to be at this point):
We’ve all got expectations for what we should have done or should be doing in our life by this point. Whether it’s based on your recent past, your distant past, or the expectations of your family, friends or society. But life doesn’t work out like that.
So if you find yourself starting to think this sentence:
‘By this time/By my age/ I was supposed to…’
STOP. And start a new one. This one:
I will…
Or this one:
I’m going to…
There is one thing you ARE supposed to be
It’s like Ethan Hawke’s character, Troy says:
All you have to be… is yourself.¹
Yep. Nailed it.
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¹ So he says ‘…by the age of 23…’ But fuck that. You can insert any age there.