"Be a first-rate version of yourself."

Someone very smart once told me that “comparison is the thief of all joy” and that has stuck with me– it is so true! We are conditioned to look around us to see where we fit in the pecking order, and usually the act of comparing ourselves to others leads to feelings of inferiority, insecurity, anxiety, frustration, discontentment, and so on. Whenever we compare ourselves to others, we don’t usually feel better about ourselves- we feel worse! And on the rare occasion that we do feel better, the sense of confidence we gain from that is false and empty. So why do we do it?
One quote (by Max Ehrmann) that I love which speaks to this: “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.” We all at times are so busy worrying about how we measure up that we lose out on being ourselves, and we aren’t able to enjoy who we were made to be. Another one of my favorite quotes is by Judy Garland- who said, “Be a first-rate version of yourself, rather than a second-rate version of someone else.” I think she had it right! We are the only ones who can be the best at being us- so let’s focus on that!! We all have strengths, talents and interests that make us unique and when we aren’t able to see those for what they are, we miss out (and so do others)! The next time you find yourself playing the comparison game, stop and consider your strengths, abilities and your beauty- both inner and outer. The idea is not to become vain or self-absorbed– but it is so important that we see ourselves for who we really are, rather than viewing ourselves through a filter that is designed to categorize and classify our worth based on another.