Perri on a scooter Over the years I’ve learned that everyone has a different journey. You might have a different vehicle or a different destination or different obstacles, so you can’t really compare your life to anyone else’s. Your experience and your dreams are specific to you.

I had to work full-time while I attended college, so it took me longer than most undergraduates to get my bachelor’s degree. For a few years there, I was resentful of my friends and peers who were able to graduate in only four years. I wanted that to be me!

But then the Great Recession of 2008/2009 happened. I saw a lot of my friends struggle with trying to find work and prevent foreclosure on their homes. I was fortunate that I didn’t have those problems. While they were still searching for their first jobs, I had already a decade of work experience under my belt before I even graduated, and was working two jobs in my chosen field. My particular struggle was getting to graduation, theirs came after graduation. It made me take a hard look at why I was envious of them. We all face stumbling blocks, they just look different for different people.

It was at that point I really began to embrace the idea that we all have our own unique journeys. There’s no sense in comparing yours to your friends’. What works for you, what will impact your life is totally different from what works in someone else’s. And that’s OK. We don’t all have to be the same. We’re not robots. We’re individuals and it makes sense that we have individual life recipes.

So, if your idea to launch a business or a website or whatever is not how so-and-so launched theirs, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea or it’s going to fail. Sometimes the formula works, but sometimes you’ve gotta blaze your own path.