Comparison

 Nicole of Living Life Lite often listens to me rant and rave about life and then sets me straight. I’m eternally grateful for this. This week she did the exact same thing with a simple quote.

I had a bad night this week. I was letting comparing myself to someone else make me feel horrible about myself. I wasn’t as skinny, I wasn’t as fast, so therefore I was fat and I was slow. I seriously started pointing out every negative about myself (my belly jiggles, my thighs jiggle, my calves are huge). There was nothing good. I judged myself for my “short” run of 3 miles and “slow” pace of 8:58/mile (this being a fast pace for me). Normally I would be happy I sweated it out in the humidity and kept a faster pace than my long runs… I was just not happy with anything. I was comparing it all to someone else and their abilities.

After ranting this all to Nicole, she simply said: “comparison is a thief of joy”.

Now my background on my phone

That stopped me in my tracks. Wow. How true is that?! I’m normally so happy and thankful for my ability to run and for my 85lb lighter body. I’m not the best runner and I’m not the skinniest person but I’m usually just fine with that. Why was I letting comparison steal my joy?

I’m sure we all struggle with comparison – not just in looks or sports. Maybe it’s careers, grades, finances. What comparison is stealing your joy? What are you going to do to stop it?