u/gwhitehurst

Lately I've been wondering whether one of the worst feelings isn't failure, but the feeling that your life never really began.

Not that nothing has happened, but that everyone else seems to have figured something out that you somehow missed, while you're still waiting for the moment when everything finally starts to click. You can have a job, relationships, hobbies - even moments of happiness - and still feel like you're somehow watching everyone else's story from the sidelines.

I don't know if that's reality or just the way comparison distorts our perception. Maybe everyone secretly feels like they're behind. Maybe we only ever see the polished version of other people's lives. Or maybe every generation has felt this way, and we're just the latest people to mistake a universal feeling for a uniquely modern one.

I've been thinking a lot about how easy it is to look around and assume everyone else has somehow figured life out. Not that they're happier all the time, but that they seem to know where they're're going while you're still trying to make sense of things.

Rationally, I know that's almost never true. Everyone has struggles you can't see. But it can still feel that way. I'm curious if other people have experienced this, and if so, what changed? Was there a moment where your perspective shifted, or does it just fade with time?

I've released a five-minute short film about how easy it is to mistake your own perspective for the whole picture - to look around and assume everyone else has somehow figured life out.

I'm not looking to spam it across Reddit - I'm trying to find communities where people might genuinely connect with that idea. I know about the filmmaking and short film subreddits already, but I'm wondering if there are other communities where this theme might resonate.

Any suggestions?

I'm looking for films about a very specific feeling...not necessarily depression, but that strange realization that everyone else's life seems to have started while you're somehow standing still.

The closest examples I've found are Inside Llewyn Davis, The Worst Person in the World, and, in a different way, Synecdoche, New York. They all capture that feeling of looking around and wondering how everyone else seems to know what they're doing.

I'm less interested in stories about external failure than films about perspective - where the protagonist slowly realizes they may be misunderstanding both themselves and the people around them. Any recommendations?