Nice metaphor. In your lifetime, you have multiple different prime times. When you are very young, you can learn quickly, but you don't have that much knowledge. When you get older, it is harder to learn, but you have much more knowledge. So, it is an art to stay in tune with your personal advantages and the possibilities of every age. The mindset of comparing or even competing with others can help you achieve the best for yourself, but it can also blur your individual pace, as you rightly pointed out.

I think it is also beneficial to be aware that most of the time, there is not just one winner and one loser, but rather the achievement of one person enables another person to achieve something great as well. This is obvious in science, as we stand on the shoulders of giants, but it is also true for almost all aspects of life. You rarely compete one-on-one in real life. Maybe for a specific job or title, it is true, but most of the time, you are building things where others can benefit in some way, like writing a comment that might inspire others.