Ever Wish You Were Someone Else? Learn to be Content

Competition in the workplace and sports makes people better.

Competition in everyday life can make people bitter.

Why can’t we just run our own race?  Why can’t we work together to achieve prosperity, harmony, and community?  Why must we always size each other up, establish a social pecking order, and then spend valuable time and energy tearing each other down in order to make ourselves feel better?

We are commanded not to covet, yet we spend most of our waking hours comparing ourselves to others.  We fall short of our own expectations mainly because we are so wrapped up in someone else’s version of what makes life worth living.  Our self esteem is dependent on our bank account, what we wear, the car we drive, and where we live.  There is always someone who has more, to encourage our wasteful consumerism and drive us mad.

Everything is relative.  Woman process thoughts such as “she is prettier,” “she has a nicer body,” “she has a wealthy husband,” “her kids are perfect,” or “she seems to have no problems.”  Men process thoughts such as “He has a hot girlfriend,” “he has the nicer car,” “he has better toys,” “a bigger house,” or “a more lucrative career.”   Why do we romanticize others?  Perhaps the media has convinced us that to be happy we need more of everything.  As if there was a such thing as a perfect life!

Blessed is the individual who can stop and say, “My life is awesome. I may not have everything I want, but I have everything I need.”  Gratefulness leads to contentment.  Contentment creates harmony and balance.  Isn’t that what we really desire?

When you start to feel down because you believe you don’t measure up try some of these suggestions:

• Work each day on becoming the best you can be.
• Make decisions that are right for you and the ones you love.
• Focus on the beauty of the here and now.
• Consider all that you have and count your blessings daily.
• Catch yourself when you start to compare and ask yourself; “why does it matters how others are doing?”  Listen carefully to your own answers.

Saying the silent “thank you” when you wake up in the morning is quite possibly the best way to start your day.

Next time you find yourself wishing you were someone else for the things they have, stop for a moment and wonder what you may not see.  Perhaps that beautiful woman has a tragedy in her family.  Perhaps that rich husband is a horrible control freak.  Perhaps that big house is a few months from foreclosure.  Perhaps those perfect kids do drugs with their buddies.  Perhaps that financially successful person is spiritually bankrupt.   We can’t see behind the closed doors and we haven’t walked in the other persons shoes.  We view life through a lens tainted with our version of what is desirable.

So when you find yourself coveting, remember…

Perhaps they wish they were you!