What do YOU have????

WHY do we compare ourselves to others?  I find myself doing it too, and the only true purpose it serves is to screw us up a little bit.

Now, there can be good to this, but more often than not it makes us doubt ourselves and amplifies all the small negative things in our lives.  It's crazy-making.

I see it in my meetings all the time.  Friends come and join together - one loses faster than the other (for no apparent reason) and the other member gets extremely frustrated.

We are all very Monkey see- Monkey do.  But when the monkey sees and can't "do", well, there we go again!!  Frustration out the wazoo!!!

It's not fair, because when we look at someone else, we are really shortchanging ourselves. 
We all have unique gifts and we all have different lots in life.  There is nothing we can do it about it but learn to appreciate it.  Yet more often than not, we take our little nuances that bug us and blow them up to epic proportions!!!

I remember when I was a member, I compared myself to my friend.  We had the same body type; we should have been losing at the same rate, right? (Yes,  I do this too).  I remember her week was better than mine and I remember getting frustrated with myself and started the mental beatings. 

In this case it worked in my favor as I had the fire stoked and I jumped on it.  But initially, it took me out!  I was riddled with self doubt; started thinking about quitting and considered myself a loser.

REALLY???   A LOSER???

Yes.... a loser!

Ever been there?

Every negative thought registers in our minds, but it also registers in our bodies.   And though I would like to say I have conquered this; I would be more accurate in saying I am more aware of it.  It's a constant work in progress.

I have to realize that we are all different and that I will not have or be like anyone else EVER, because I'm not meant to be them.  I'm meant to be me!

And the more I worry about someone else, the less I care for myself, which is not fair to everything I am.

I have learned to appreciate many things about myself.  One of which is throwing all my "stuff" out there for everyone to know.  There is no shame in being who I am. 

Can I do things better?  YOU BET!!!  But right now, I know I am doing the best I can and I am constantly working on improving.  Because until I screw something up, I'm not sure it needs to be fixed.

I have created an awareness that when I look at someone else, I stop and realize that I am feeling shortchanged on something.  And I try to figure out what it is.  Because in the end, it isn't about what someone else has; it's more a question of why am I not happy!!!

A question worth pondering any day of the week!  (Especially if you start work on it!)

Happy Wednesday!