Inspiration Monday: Focus on Yourself

It's been such a long time since I've written an Inspiration Monday post! As I was writing the draft for my first post on The Indie Chicks, part of my post got me thinking about something truly important I've learned in recent years (and am still learning). That lesson? Focusing on yourself and avoiding the temptation to compare yourself to others.

This is something I feel every single one of us has faced since a very young age, dating back to your Kindergarten days when you wanted the same big box of crayons the little girl next to you had, or when you were in high school and every day was filled with comparing yourself to your peers. As we age, we tend to step away from these bad habits, but sometimes they never really go away.

Since graduating college, I feel like I've been hit by a new wave of comparing my life to those around me. After graduating, everyone I knew branched off and headed in different directions. When we were still in school, we all seemed to be on the same path or dealing with similar situations. Afterwards, I couldn't help but notice that everyone was doing something that I wanted to do but wasn't able to or hadn't gotten around to yet. It was incredibly frustrating and disheartening.

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Fast forward a year and a half and I've finally begun to accept the path that I'm on as my own and have actually become quite proud of myself, especially how far I've come. Of course, it wasn't easy. It never was. I know there will still come times when I take a look at someone else's life and wish mine resembled theirs. It's only natural to feel this way from time to time, but we cannot make a habit out of it.

As I've matured, I've learned that one of the most important things you can do in life is to focus on yourself, and just that. Don't look at where others are in life or what they have and you don't. That kind of comparison is negative and will only bring you harm. You need to focus on who you are as an individual and accept that your life will be completely different than anyone else's and that that is 100% okay.

As a twenty-something, this is something that's even more difficult to do because everyone you know will start making big changes in their life and not everyone will meet certain milestones at the same time. But that's okay. Everyone marches to the beat of their own drum. We can't all have the same life, the same goals, the same dreams. Just like you may want something that someone else has, someone may want something that you have but they don't. It's the circle of life!

So remember: focus on yourself and what you can do to bring yourself happiness.