Comparison is the Thief of all Joy

...and the grass isn't greener on the other side. It's greenest where you water it.

We're living in a society where things like social media and twnety-four hour television have established a culture that is hyper-focused on comparison.

We often see someone else's journey, their highlight reel and decide that we need to start where they are instead of looking at where we are, meeting ourselves there, and starting our own journey.

They meditate, workout, and build a beautiful breakfast at home every morning and they're really happy...I better do all of those things, too.

They do workout classes 4 days a week and run on their days off and they're fit...I'm going to do that, too.

They are gluten free and don't eat meat and they're lean, I will do that, too.

If we don't focus on our own journey, ours alone, we run the risk not only losing joy, but losing any chance of true success in the long run. Comparison is incredibly short-sighted, and if we focus only on the successes of others, we do it at our own expense.

Starting your journey where you see someone else succeeding doesn't offer you the opportunity to grow through your own experiences, navigate successes and failures, and in turn, learn what works best for you and your success.

Instead, you're left frustrated and insecure that you're not able to do all the things that 'that one person' is able to do. Stop ignoring your own journey and where you are in it. Stop camparing other people's highlight reels to your backstage...they have a backstage too, they're just not putting it on the gram.

Earnest Hemingway said it best, "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self."