It was at church Sunday morning when I felt like I had been hit over the head big time. We were talking about the future of the church and it evolved into a conversation about struggles. Struggles about business, personal discipline, relationships with God, and finances. I have often looked at these very people whom I absolutely adore and LOVE spending time with each week, and thought, “Man, they sure do have it together.”
I’ve thought a lot of things along those lines about these awesome people. It’s SO easy to compare, and to think that what they are doing is better than what you have. I realized that I often have a warped idea about other people’s situations based on what they choose to share with the rest of the world. They are struggling just like I am. They are real people, going through tough times, or just frustrating times just like I am.
In fact, we’re not all that different after all.
Yes, we’re all unique and are different in our own ways but when it comes to what we wish we had and how we view other people certainly connects us all.
The grass is NOT always greener on the other side.
Sure, we can think that all we want, but it’s not the truth. Instead of focusing on the other side, we should focus on OUR side and figuring out what makes us feel so unsatisfied with what we have. Because that is typically when we start to compare and think that someone else’s life is more glamorous than ours. The life you are living is YOURS and the one you have to live with.
Instead of focusing on others, focus on what you’ve got going for you.
Sometimes my friends tell me that I do a lot, that I have it all together and they think I’m killing it.
It’s nice to hear someone view my life like that, but it’s not always unicorns and rainbows.
Steven and I get into arguments sometimes.
Sometimes my kitchen doesn’t get cleaned for an entire week, and we start to order out to avoid the dishes.
Sometimes I spend an entire day watching netflix on the couch in my pajamas.
I wait until the last minute to do my grad work.
I don’t always feel like the greatest teacher.
Sometimes I’m a random cryer.
Sometimes we only have 84 cents left after we pay our bills.
I don’t always have it together.
Yet, if you look at my social media accounts, I share upbeat positive things about my life, because that is just how I am. I’d rather focus on the positive than the negative. Focusing on the negative just creates more negativity and it’s a hard cycle to break out of.
I think if more people were open about what was going on behind closed doors, we’d be less likely to spend so much time comparing ourselves to others.
For me, that stops today. I have gotten a lot better about not doing so, but this was the final piece of the puzzle for me to TRULY realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Things are not always what they seem.
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