“Your
life is what you make it.” ~
Nana Messler
Good
Morning!
I had an
interesting conversation
with a girlfriend one day. She was
telling me about this woman who “has it all.”
My friend perceives this woman as having the perfect and caring
husband;
beautiful, talented, and respectful children; a well-kept and beautiful
home,
and the woman herself is beautiful with a great attitude. The
description concluded with an exclamation
like: “I just hate her!” (said tongue-in-cheek).
I started
laughing. She asked
me what was so funny. I
posed this question, “If this woman had an
awful husband, ugly children, a shack, and a bad attitude – would that
make
YOUR life better?”
She asked me
what that had to do
with anything. I proceeded to ask her
why she was spending so much time analyzing this woman’s
life. What possible purpose did it serve? She
explained that if this woman could “have
it all” then certainly she could as well.
“But what if this woman didn’t
have it all?” I pressed on. “Would that mean that
you couldn’t have it
all?”
Whether this
woman owned a llama
farm, was an attorney, First Lady, or the first female president of the
United
States has no bearing on my friend’s life.
Each moment she spent looking at this woman and comparing their lives
was taking her focus off where it needed to be – her own life. Whatever this
woman’s life looks like is completely irrelevant to all of
us. It doesn’t change our own life one iota. The
only thing that can change our lives is us.
As Nana’s quote states, “Your life is what you make it” – not what
others make it.
Your Turn: We rarely compare ourselves to
those who have
less than we do to increase our self-esteem, but women often compare
themselves
to those who have more, and so undermine their own esteem.
Today, embrace the concept of looking at your
own life, instead of the lives of others.
Don’t be distracted with the destructive thinking found in comparing
yourself to another person – remember, you can never truly walk in his
or her
shoes.
Today’s
Affirmation: Today, I only compare myself to
the “me” I
was yesterday.
