You’re not the sequel to your older sibling. You’re a different show on a different night.

Growing up behind someone means being measured against a record you never agreed to compete with. Teachers, relatives and sometimes you keep checking your progress against their timeline, as though you started in the same place. You did not, and the comparison flatters neither of you.

When it comes up this week, from someone else or from your own head, name one way your situation is genuinely different. Not to excuse anything, only to get the measurement honest. Then pick a standard that belongs to you and use that one instead.