I included you in my reply on the other related thread but accidentally wrote “Cecile” not Cecile in the box. Anyway thank you for posting. This is so sad. From her essay in Allure on turning 30:
“To be fair, I didn’t spring from the womb, sword in hand, to fight the good fight and I am certainly not exempting myself from belonging to the go-with-the-flow crowd on occasion. I remember being enamored by “20 under 20” and “30 under 30” lists that tied achievement to youth and called it success — lists that are surely intended to recognize the rarity of accomplishing outstanding feats at a young age. But they had an unfortunate side effect on some young people, who felt encouraged to hoard accomplishments as fast as possible in order to measure up to our peers.
…I discovered that the world’s most important question, especially when asked repeatedly and answered frankly, is: why? Why earn more achievements just to collect another win? Why pursue another plaque or medal or line item on my resume if it’s for vanity’s sake, rather than out of passion? Why work so hard to capture the dreams I’ve been taught by society to want when I continue to only find emptiness?”
- Cheslie Kryst
https://www.allure.com/story/cheslie-kryst-miss-usa-on-turning-30
Despite her many achievements, she sounds unfulfilled by them for some reason. She didn’t give herself more time to gain perspective on what she needed to feel content in life rather than empty.