Late Bloomers

Have you ever had that strange and awkward feeling that everybody except you was "progressing" in their life? When everyone seems to have found their life job, their soul mate, they are getting married and having children but you are still living with your parents and trying to figure out what you'll do when you grow up? I perfectly know what you mean. I've learned to swim at 30. I became a mother at 42. I wrote and published my first novel at 46 and still don't know exactly what I'll do when I grow up. 

These are just a few examples to say that I've often reached many goals late compared with most people. I'm a "late bloomer". I've always been conscious about it but I used to be ashamed. 

But I discovered that I am in good company. 

• Giorgio Armani started his own company when he was 41 years old. 
• Charles Darwin was 50 in 1859 when his “On the Origin of Species” changed the scientific community forever. 
• Laura Ingalls Wilder was a 65-year-old farmer’s wife and newspaper columnist when her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published in 1932. The book was the first in the cherished series of tales drawn partially from Ingalls Wilder’s childhood in the American West of the 1880s. It would eventually come to life on the popular television show, Little House on the Prairie. 

Our society glamourizes early success and we are constantly bombarded with examples of early bloomers: billionaires, celebrities, people who already have their path figured out by the age of eighteen. Being a late bloomer seems anything but sexy. This can make us feel unsatisfied, sad, and even hopeless. But it doesn't mean that we are less intelligent or that our life will be less happy, on the contrary, the good news is that late bloomers have a lot of unexpected advantages.

Here's a small list of positive aspects of being a late bloomer:

Your decisions are often taken more consciously. You know yourself, you have a lot of experience, you've made mistakes and learned from them, so you probably know for sure what you like and what you don't like. 

You reach certain goals later but you have a background of knowledge that allows you to succeed faster and easily. You've tried many different paths and accumulated a lot of information in different fields, that's why you can now reach your goals easily and even enjoy the journey. 

You often go further and overcome others. Your experience of trial and error has given you motivation and strength. Your curiosity constantly pushes you to discover new things. For these reasons, you are like a diesel engine: you start slowly and then you can go faster and overcome even the early bloomers.

Your attitude towards life and time is positive because you know that things can happen at the right time at a different pace for everyone. You know that your journey has just begun and your interest in new things keeps you active and young.

Would you add something more?