“You can appreciate the flowers in someone else’s garden while still watering your own.” Jennae Cecelia

Have you ever found yourself admiring someone else’s garden so much so that you forgot you even had a garden of your own? I believe we all get caught up in this negative thought loop from time to time because we aren’t really admiring their garden as much as we are comparing. And as soon as we start comparing, we enter the nefarious land of judgement, and then there’s no turning back—down the rabbit hole we go.

So how can we avoid this seemingly unavoidable trap? Let’s turn to another quote, this one from Theodore Roosevelt, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Do you want less joy in your life? If you don’t, then every time you begin to compare yourself with others, stop and ask, “Is this comparison worth surrendering my joy?” Probably not, right?

Here are a few other tips: Social media is carefully curated, far from reality, and never tells the whole story. Money doesn’t buy happiness—look at Hollywood, the average divorce rate is 52%, which is 2x higher than the general population. Gratitude is where we begin to look at our own garden. And motivation is when we pick up our own watering can and tend to the flowers in our garden. Now that’s a healthy decision! And I’ll bet you it cultivates joy.

With Gratitude,
Beth