Making it Happen Monday: Stop comparing yourself to others

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I recently got to hang out with three good friends. One I’ve know since kindergarten, one since fifth grade, and one since college. These are friendships that have lasted years, miles, and many changes and trials in life. I’ve learned from them. I’ve laughed with them. I’m sure there are tears that have been shed as well.

Meet Lindsey, Brandy and Ana…

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What you might see here from your viewpoint are three women having a good time together. I see many years of memories and oodles and oodles of success. I caught myself at one point comparing myself to them.

Epic fail. Epic.

See, what you also are looking at there is a journalist and two assistant district attorneys. And then there’s me behind the camera… A fledgling photographer, blogger and bartender. At one point, I sat in silence listening to them talk cases and news reports from the Houston, TX area, and I found myself feeling very much the underachiever. For longer than I care to admit, I had a great big huge pity party. Who was I really kidding? I’m nowhere near as successful as these three women!

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t until the next day that I pulled myself out of it.

I started to remember all the things I have in my “bag of tricks.” I started to remember that my life is pretty unique… and I remembered how a friend once told my husband he’d give his entire savings account to be on the Grand Ole Opry stage one time. I remembered how many amazing, amazing people I’ve met, some backstage the Opry!

I remembered how I head up my alumni club in Nashville. How I’m an active member of an organization that raises money for CASA. I remembered that people love my photography, and I’m only just starting to grow that.

I remembered that I am a damn good bartender (dammit, I am!), and I can just as easily rock a desk job. I have both creative ability as well as logical.

I have an amazing husband, loving family and more friends than I can count.

Success is not measured on some measuring stick that we all have to live up to. I might not be using my journalism degree per se, and I don’t put bad guys in jail. But I’m a successful women in my own right. It’s just different from the other girls.

I admire my friends, and I am so very proud of them!! I can not, though, compare myself to them. It’s not fair to me… nor to them. We are all unique, and it’s in that individuality that we can only strive to be better.

Mathew McConaughey gave an awesome speech when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor this year in which he said the person he chases is himself, 10 years in the future. I loved that. It really fit where my mindset was that night. I can’t chase success based on what others have done. I can only chase success based on what I have done, can do and will do.

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