Life beyond the milestones

A new series

Anna Ruby
2 min readSep 30, 2021
Photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash

Why are we so obsessed with milestones? Get married, buy a house, save for retirement; the list goes on and on and on.

We’re so obsessed that we often define “success” as a string of these milestones achieved in perfect order. From the day you’re born ’till the day you die, your mission is to cross each one off the list as quickly as possible. But this way of life doesn’t work for everyone.

For people like me, achieving life milestones feels slow and excruciatingly difficult. I’m responsible and prepared and mentally ready, and still, they just don’t happen. Like an IKEA instruction manual, I know what life is supposed to look like, but every time I try to put it together according to the directions, it comes out askew.

For others, traditional milestones don’t fall into their idea of success.

Living for the milestones is not the universal solution for a happy life. And it begs me to ask the question:

When milestones are the pinnacle of social normalcy and acceptance, how do people like us thrive in a world we don’t fit into?

I’m on a quest to find practical answers to that question.

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My articles are a reflection of my personal experiences and thoughts.

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Anna Ruby

Writer obsessed with the human spirit, psychology, and the significance of day-to-day life.