Why comparing yourself is a waste of time
We only have access to what our journey feels like — messy, difficult, complicated, confusing, two-steps-forward and one-step-back, sometimes boring and sometimes exhilarating, with days where you want to give up and days when you don’t know what you’re doing.
So we compare our internal experience to the way that other people’s journeys appear to be. Which, to any outsider, seem perfectly polished and like everything fell into place magically for them. But no matter how it looks, their journey feels the same as yours does. No one is walking a straight line. We’re all bobbing and weaving and going backwards.
First, practicing reminding yourself of this when you catch yourself thinking someone else’s journey is smooth and straight. They, too, are going through it. Maybe not in the same way, but in their own way. If we can internalize that, it really helps to extend compassion to others — but also to ourselves, recognizing that this type of journey is the norm, and not something that you’re doing “wrong” or an indication that you can’t do it.
That’s just how journeys are: bumpy.
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