Confidence over Comparison
"Comparison is the thief of joy." -We hear it over and over again, but I don't think we really consider the weight of that reality. We live in a world so driven by comparison and competition that it is CONSUMING. Realllll talk: we spend our lives comparing ourselves to everyone around us and then we wonder why we struggle so much with insecurity. I know because I've been there. I didn't realize how much I was battling with comparison and insecurity until I was in pretty deep... what had started as a subconscious thing turned a BAD HABIT of constantly wishing I could be someone or something else more than I was celebrating who I was and the 100% unique opportunity I have been given in this life to be ME.Comparison leads to insecurity, it leads to fear of failure, to discontentment and being stuck in a rut of wishing life away rather than fully embracing what is right in front of us. Comparison leads to frustration and trying to meet impossible standards and filling voids with empty solutions and temporary fixes. Comparison leads to self hatred, and hatred of others. COMPARISON IS A THIEF OF JOY and abundant living.Something absolutely life changing happens when someone decides to be themselves unapologetically, boldly, bravely - when someone chooses confidence over comparison. I want to be that someone, I want you to be that someone. It's easier said than done, it's a process, but it's FAR from impossible - but there is so much freedom and joy to be found on the other side of breaking the habit of comparison.I'm about to do it, yep, I am."Today, you are you, this is tru-er than true, there is no one alive that is you-er than you."I just pulled a Dr. Seuss.but, really... YOU.ARE.YOU. and that is the very best thing you have to offer this world, its the most powerful thing you have to bring to the table. It is the ONE thing you have that no one else has to offer and once you recognize that, you're free from all of those things that comparison leads to. You're no longer paralyzed by constantly looking to your right or left at what everyone else is doing, what they look like, or what they have that you don't. You're walking in freedom. You're walking in abundance.I know, sometimes scrolling through your phone for hours wishing you had other peoples experiences, appearances, families, faces, bodies (real-talk)...etc. is easier sometimes, it is our default setting, but nothing good comes from it, (generally speaking) and I for one, am tired of filling my life with habits that are't good for me. I'm tired of allowing my joy to be stolen by unhealthy comparison.What a beautiful and crazy-wild thing it is that I get to be me and you get to be you and she gets to be her, that we all have such a unique opportunity to leave our corners of the world better than we found them... so let's live that out. Let's celebrate that truth and live in the freedom of who He has created us each to be. COMPARISON ISN'T GONNA STEAL OUR JOY ANYMORE!!!!!< 3 Maddie Joy