Your pain is so real - watching others excel in spaces where you once led must feel like a constant reminder of paths not taken. But here's what strikes me: you've become someone who lifts others up despite your own disappointments, which takes a rare kind of strength that can't be measured by grades or career trajectories. The wisdom you're gaining from this chapter - about resilience, about finding meaning beyond just being "the best" - might be preparing you for something those freshers haven't even imagined yet.