When I was a kid I built my entire identity around being #1. I was the most talented kid in school, anything endangering that resulted in an instant identity crisis.

Then I went to college and I understood that there are people who, for one reason or another, are thinking in ways so advanced I'll never catch up. I'll never be the #1. I'm actually much closer to being average than I thought.

But this doesn't mean I should just give up, lie down in my bed and cry. Since then I've learned a lot of skills - most of them being crap at best, but that's not the point. What matters is my own subjective experience. The fact that despite objectively not being good, I see myself as a skilled person with rich life.

Once I was watching a YouTube video about elderly care and there was a phrase along "These people won't achieve anything more in their lives, my goal is to keep them occupied until they die" which is a bit morbid at first glance, but it actually makes so much sense as a life philosophy.