"Our very business in life is not to get ahead of others... but to get ahead of ourselves." Thomas L. Monson
Submitted by Good Morning Reader Debbie Schwer

Good morning! Good morning! There are many ways to measure ourselves and measure our progress, but there is one way of measuring that we need to avoid at all costs--that is comparing ourselves to others.

I often hear people saying, "My neighbor can do ___, why can't I?" or "If ____ can do all of this, why can't I do half of it?" or "All these couples are so happy - why can't I find someone to be happy with?" Comparing ourselves to others is not only a waste of time, it is incredibly unhealthy and doesn't really make any sense.

Each of us is living our own story. While we might see a "snapshot" of our neighbor's story or our best friend's story or anyone's story - we don't see the whole movie. A snapshot isn't representative of a life. If I showed you a "snapshot" of me last Halloween, you wouldn't use that as a basis to compare beauty would you? But often we choose one selective (often unhealthy) snapshot and wonder why we don't measure up. We can never measure up (nor should we) to a story we don't know or understand. Our goal should not be to surpass others, but simply to be the best we can be.

Your Turn: In what area of your life do you tend to compare yourself to others? How has that helped you? How has that hurt you?

Affirmation: I focus not on surpassing others, but on being my best self.