| Hi Friend!
Apparently that's a Theodore Roosevelt quote.
Comparison is the thief of joy!
When you compare yourself to others or to your old self you do a disservice to your current self. Most of the time it does you no good. Comparing is like the Little Mermaid quote, "The Seaweed is always greener in someone else's lake". It can make you feel bad. Feeling bad can be a motivator for some people some times, and that's good, but other times and for other people it can be a discourager.
Look, I don't have the answers. I'm learning as I go, maybe like you. I'm piecing together experiences to create systems to help me be my best most of the time, have a great time doing it and live with no regrets.
Comparing is like choosing and choosing is a choice. "Choices are the enemy of happiness" according to Dan Gilbert, Harvard professor and author of Stumbling on Happiness, because there's the risk of what you may miss out on. Contentment is an antidote to insatiable fulfillment (Dave Ramsey), like gratitude is the antidote to fear and anger (Tony Robbins).
I think as this pertains to self-care and life is to remember another Teddy Roosevelt quote, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are". That's all you really can do isn't. If you do this, you'll have contentment, which will be fulfilling, which can lead to natural or synthetic happiness (Gilbert), which means your happy, and if you take it one more step and allow yourself to feel grateful, you bullet proof yourself for the moment against fear and anger. That reads like a nice way to be, feel and live.
Of course, if you can also mix this with happy hormone highs, exhilaration and the ability to control your own body, do cool physical things, feel healthy, be healthy and feel great in and out of your clothes is also pretty fun.
We get one shot, let's capture it!
And then high five!
Coach Mike Alves
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