I think competition is wired into us, so you are not the only one who goes through this. Just try to keep it within a healthy range. Enough to know what's going

I think competition is wired into us, so you are not the only one who goes through this. Just try to keep it within a healthy range. Enough to know what's going on, but less than what gets you worked up about it. Not easy. Personally, am fine with moderate success and having my time free to pursue interests - learning, reading, etc. But I am bothered about it, when friends ask me about it. As in general, if someone has chosen an off beat path (i.e. startup or similar or anything other than normal corporate life) people have more questions. Also, we all wish that we ought to be more successful than we are. Am middle aged (40s), so have some regrets about not investing better. Not that have done bad. But could definitely have done better, if devoted more time on it, than focusing 100% of energy on startup. Added later: (In the vein of some other comments) Today morning, I did an exercise, of trying to remember, how many people I have helped in life, in a way that their life got better. And also trying to remember how many people who helped me in a similar way. The exercise left me happier. Just stating it here, to say there are several ways of measuring our lives.