14 Feb 2026

You are average, but so are your problems

Growing up, I always thought I was the centre of the universe. That I was created to do something special. Like life was literally a movie, and I was the lead actor. Everyone else was the supporting cast in “my movie”. It probably stemmed from being good in academics, which had a disproportionate weightage growing up. Coming first in class, getting all the attention - felt amazing!

All that, of course, came crashing down when real life hit. I went to a military boarding school in 8th standard where we had one student from each state of the country. Academics, Sports, Extra-curriculars - there was always someone so much better and just so much more effortlessly talented than me.

I realised how I am not the superhero I thought I was :)

This is disappointing, yes. We are not all going to be Elon Musk or Cristiano Ronaldo. We are not going to be changing the world. Most of what we do is not going to be essential, at all.

But there is a flip side to this, and some reason to rejoice.

All of our problems are average too. Wanting to become better at your job? Trying to reduce weight and gain some muscle? Improve your chess ELO? Make the perfect badminton smash? Going through the worst phase of your life? Feeling depressed? Tackling an addiction?

95% of what you’re struggling with has been struggled with, and solved, by thousands before you. People have written extensive guides on those solutions. And all of that is freely available at your fingertips.

All you need to do is go out, find it, and apply it.

Of course, much easier said than done. The difficult part of most things is the implementation and following through. But who said it should be easy?

Simple - yes. Easy - no. Difficult, yet solvable.

That’s the gift of being average!

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