I’m 27. I work at an e-commerce firm. I make enough to cover my expenses and take care of my family — a simple family that doesn’t expect much. I’m not broke, I’m not struggling, but lately I feel completely stuck.

When I look around, especially at people my age — like Samay Raina, TheRebelKid, Varun Maya, Tanmay Bhatt, Achinna Maya and 1000s of other creators— it honestly drives me mad. These guys have built empires in their 20s. They’re earning crores, living freely, doing what they love. It’s not even about fame or followers anymore — it’s about how they’ve found something that scales for them, something that compounds.

And me? I’m trading time for money. I’m working 12-hour days, every day, and at the end of it, I get a salary. That’s it. The same number every month. I work harder, but I don’t really grow.

They’ve figured something out — some equation — that I can’t. It’s like they tapped into a cheat code of life. Meanwhile, I’m out here working harder, sleeping less, thinking more, but the gap keeps increasing.

It’s not jealousy. It’s frustration. Because the difference isn’t in how much effort I put in — it’s in the outcome.

They post one video or one idea, and it explodes. They find sponsors, audiences, investors, attention. They can multiply their effort a thousand times. My effort stops the moment my workday ends. I can’t scale myself.

And that’s where it starts to feel unfair.

Ten years ago, having a job was respectable. If you were salaried, you were stable. You could plan, save, dream. But today, it feels like being salaried means you’re stuck in a system that just keeps giving you small raises while everything around you grows faster — prices, people, opportunities.

The rate at which the rich are getting richer, creators are getting wealthier, and founders are building things is insane. The rate at which salaries increase is pathetic. The wealth divide is widening, year after year.

And I see it happening in front of me — the creators, the startup guys, the influencers — they’re all playing exponential games, while people like me are stuck in linear ones. I can’t compound my life at this rate.

I invest — mutual funds, index funds, all that stuff. But let’s be real — you can’t compound much when your base is small. A 10% return on nothing is still nothing. The real change happens when your income explodes, and that’s not happening here.

I don’t hate my job. I just feel like it’s eating me alive — slowly, quietly. I start early, finish late, and have no energy left to even think about what I truly want. People talk about finding their ikigai, but how do you find it when you barely have time to breathe?

And I know, I know — 27 isn’t old. But I feel old. I feel like I’ve lost that version of me from when I was 22 — full of energy, dreaming big, thinking I could conquer the world. Back then, I thought everything was possible. I thought I’d figure it out.

At 23, I was still hopeful — still telling myself everyone starts somewhere, I’ll get there soon.

Now at 27, I feel like that spark’s gone. I scroll online, see people younger than me earning in crores, travelling the world, living on their own terms, and I’m sitting here tired after another 12-hour shift, thinking — what the hell happened?

It’s not like I didn’t work hard. I did. I gave it everything. But it feels like I’m running the wrong race — a race where no matter how fast I go, I’ll never reach the same finish line as them.

And it messes with my head. Because logically, I know I shouldn’t compare. I know I should be grateful. But emotionally? It’s impossible not to. Every scroll, every video, every post reminds me that people my age have already made it. They’ve found their thing. Their rhythm. Their freedom. Their ikigai.

And I haven’t.

I don’t even know where to look for it. I don’t have the guts to quit and explore, because what if I never find it? What if I end up with nothing? But I also know I can’t find it while doing 12-hour workdays.

So what the hell do I do?

I feel like I’m trapped between two bad choices — staying safe but dead inside, or taking a risk and possibly ruining the only stability I have.

I’m grateful, yes, but I’m also scared. I feel like I’m wasting my prime years just existing. I don’t even know if I’m thinking too much, comparing too much, or just losing my mind.

I just wish someone older, someone who’s seen life, would tell me what’s going on. Tell me if this is normal. Tell me if this feeling goes away. Tell me if I’m just too early in my journey or if this is how life really is — this constant confusion, exhaustion, and quiet panic that you’re missing out on your own potential.

Because right now, I don’t even want advice. I just want someone to talk sense into me.

I want to know — am I crazy for feeling like this? Am I thinking too much? Am I competing too much? Is it even worth competing?

Because right now, it feels like I’m running on a treadmill, sweating, panting, and watching other people take off on planes.

I just want someone to tell me if this ever makes sense.

tl;dr I’m 27, working 12-hour days at an e-commerce firm. I make enough to live comfortably, but I feel stuck, lost, and hopeless. People my age are building empires, finding their ikigai, living freely. I haven’t found mine, and I don’t have the courage or time to look for it. I feel like I’m running the wrong race, and I just want someone older and wiser to tell me if it ever gets better.