You were probably taught to try your best and out perform your peers. Your preparation for the adult world instructed you that success depends on how you compare with others. What you may not have been taught is that no amount of success will ever satisfy you. Fulfillment only happens when you learn to love and accept yourself. To achieve that state, you have to free yourself from slavery to the myth of prerequisites.
There are no prerequisites to happiness.
Steve and Jarl
Seems kind of odd to me how long this has taken me. Three quarters of a century and the fog of my socialization is lifting: “But first, I have to…” There are several aspects of our behavior that amount to slavery.