Not Better Than Anyone Else, Just Better Than Last Year's Me
7/21/2026
2 min read
#OnMaTuTu
“Huong, 23, rereads an old diary on a quiet year-end evening and realizes she hasn't gotten rich or promoted — but she's grown more than she thought.”
— Not Better Than Anyone Else, Just Better Than Last Year's Me
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Near the end of the year, Huong, 23, is tidying the shelf in her rented room when her hand brushes against an old diary from last January, its cover already curling at the corners. Outside, her feed is full of people her age: someone just got promoted, someone came back from a trip to Japan, someone posted wedding photos. Huong has none of that — no wealth, no promotion, no partner, never been abroad.
Scrolling through a few more stories, she feels a familiar dread creep in. Twenty-three years old and still nothing to show for it — no house, no car, no fancy title. Next to everyone else's highlight reel, Huong always feels like she's a step behind, running a beat slower than her peers.
Curious, she opens the old diary and starts from the first page. January last year: "I'm scared to call clients. So scared my heart races before every single call." Now she calls clients every day, hands steady. A few pages later: "I have no idea how to build a complex Excel report — one look at VLOOKUP and I want to shut my laptop." Now she can do it, and she's the one training the new hire.
She closes the diary and sets it back on the shelf. She still isn't better than anyone else on her feed. But she's clearly better than who she was a year ago — she knows more, she's calmer, she's less afraid. And for the first time all year, that's enough to make her smile to herself.
"The only race worth running is against who you were yesterday."
What would the you from a year ago say if they could see you now?
How did this story make you feel?