Personal stagnation or decline, let alone admitting to it, would suggest failure – and self-congratulation is far more palatable than perceived self-pity on social media. The latter may prompt comments to the effect of “things will work out”, a platitude that only serves to ease the commenter’s discomfort as anyone who has shared their struggles knows.
Too many posts thus feel more like a highlight reel than genuine self-reflection, albeit using introspective language to get social validation for one’s successes.
For example, if the post were about overcoming insecurity, it might read: “I met my younger self for coffee. She was late, because she’d been paralysed by thoughts of how to impress me. I told her that she no longer craves external validation, not when she becomes the first person to be country head of her company before turning 30.” (Not a real post, but you get my point.)
The end result, while presumably unintended, comes across as a humblebrag.
THE PROBLEM WITH REDEMPTION ARC NARRATIVES
This tone isn’t unique to the trend. It echoes the late bloomer narrative, a permanent and predictable fixture in the social media news cycle around the time that the results of a national examination are released.
You know how that goes: Accomplished adults share their poor Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), O Level or A Level scores, highlighting those grades don’t matter because they have now achieved a societally-lauded version of success.
The well-intentioned narrative aims to help those who feel like a failure to understand this period of struggle will pass. But the problem arises when it ironically reinforces the need to hit traditional benchmarks of success.
In other words, self-reflection on setbacks only seems worth sharing in hindsight – if these struggles eventually lead to conventional success or can be reframed as algorithm-friendly personal growth.
