Starting College Next Month

In April I'm starting college, I'm just attending my community college but it feels like such a big step. I took about a year or so off from when I graduated high school because I was generally burnt out but then I decided to sign up for this trades program since that's what I do want to do (welding more specifically) and I did get a couple certifications out of it but I cant help but think it was just a waste of my time. 

I went for like 2-3 months and it was pretty easy tbh but I didn't actually learn anything of substance, maybe it was the one I attended or that's what those classes are like, but they just rushed us into getting the certifications and we didn't actually learn to much. And with what I actually want to learn, Welding Fabrication, I've realized that there are two major paths to go down. Either I keep trying for the union or random jobs and work from the very bottom or go to school for a couple years and work on specific degrees for the same work, and both would take years. 

And I know a lot of people think going to college for anything in trades is a waste of time because they have short couple weeks trade schools, but I think it has major benefits of indefinitely saying you're qualified for specific jobs, and I think it helps even more to be an "expert" in certain things you'll need when working. 

And I'm proud of myself for going back to school and letting myself experience different ways to get to where I want to be, but I just feel so behind everyone. I'm at the age where people my age or I went to high school with are already in their 2nd or 3rd year of college and I'm barely starting, and a lot of people I see getting into the trades are older than me and either have years of experience or grew up doing stuff like this and its so weird being at the start and what feels like so far behind. Maybe it's also the influence of seeing a lot of older people in the trades, starting later in life and its them saying how much time they don't have that it makes me feel the same. But I'm barely going to be 20 this year, as far as I know I have all the time in the world. 

There's just so many people that tell me to just go to trade school or ask why I would even want to go into a trade when I don't "have to" and people my age ahead of me in school already, it just starts bumming you out after a minute. And yea I know comparison is the thief of joy and I'm trying to not compare myself to people so much, especially when I know I'm not them and my experiences and life is so different from theirs. 

I'm just grateful I have parents who are basically letting me do whatever I want as long as I'm doing something. I'm going to school and I have a passion for what I want to do and its a pretty stable job industry, and there are other things they're pushing me to do that I'm passionate about, like selling the crochet things I make, like the bouquets for my mom and grandma, or the bags I make for myself. I'm at a point in my life I'm happy with and I like the direction its going, but its hard feeling like you're the only one starting on square one.