Hello Love,
Do you ever have those moments when you don’t feel quite put together or that you’ll ever reach your dream only to look over to see a sister soaring with success? It can be hard to appreciate the butterfly when you feel like you’re still crawling on the ground.
I was having one of those mornings today where I was admiring fabulous accomplishments of some of my visionary sisters and feeling like I didn’t quite measure up. Then I remembered this wisdom I received a while ago. It was just what I needed to gain some perspective and peace of mind.
While I hope you’re on top of the world today I’m sending you this for those times when you need a reminder you’re exactly who and where you need to be.
With deep love,
Joni
No Comparison
She’s so beautiful
I feel so fat
Oh, look
She’s sooo good
I wish I could do that
She’s got such talent
She creates with such ease
When I try
It’s like wrestling a pig into a bathing suit
Another epic fail
I really think she must be perfect
Not a hair out of place
She’s always dressed just right
Knows just what to say
I can barely take myself out in public
Wrong clothes, wrong hair
I never got the memo
I fear I’ll never measure up
Always be less than
How can I not be
Surrounded by such beauty, accomplishment, brilliance, wit, savvy and skill
But my dear
I think you have forgotten
Even as you are surrounded by beauty and grace and amazing skills
You carry your own
When you are the seedling
Or the sprout
When you are shedding your leaves for compost
It does no good to look upon
Your sister
Blossoming at full peak and compare
It will fill your heart with envy
Bitterness
And you’ll never measure up
Or gaze upon her blossom
And judge it more valuable than your own
As if a rose could be more valuable than a peony
Iris
Lily
Or cornflower in the field
She doesn’t deserve more sunshine, or nourishing rain
She may have come to seed in richer soil
Had better care
Or better conditions to thrive
She is just another beauty in the grand garden of creation
No finer or better than you
Her time to bloom may be your time to lie fallow
Her blossom may be a big bold flourish
And yours a delicate subtle expression
But there is no comparison
One may be better suited for a specific need or arrangement
But not better than
So when the envy washes over you
Recognize you have forgotten
Again, as we do
Then remember
You too
Have a prized place in the garden
You too
Can blossom and flourish
If necessary change your conditions
Seek better nourishment
More tending
And Support
Listen to the yearnings of your Wise Heart
Follow Her inspiration
Step by step
Before long your season will come
You will feel the vitality of Life
Coursing through you
As you blossom and unfurl.
Oh Joni, I so needed this today! Wow, I have been feeling the exact same way you describe in your opening paragraphs. While happy for my sisters who are in full creation mode, I have been feeling like I don’t measure up. Then I reminded myself that what I am witnessing might have taken them years to nourish & grow. I am just a little seedling right now & perhaps in a few months or years I will be where they are. And that is OKAY. Blessings & love to you!
Thank you Tae! So good to know we’re not alone with those feelings, especially as we want to uphold the values of sisterhood. Step by step you’re getting there and so am I. 😉
Love to you Tae.
So true, there is no comparison. We are all beautiful and worthy in our own right with an abundance of gifts to share! Glad you are in my circle, Joni. xx
Thank you Lisa!
Me too.
Such a good feeling when we can recognize our own gifts and honor each others. You are an inspiration.
I wonder why this comparison-thing is so hard-wired into us. I’ve had some wonderful successes recently… and *still* managed to do this to myself this morning. I went to my IRL writers’ group last night and heard myself telling my husband about all the group members who are better writers than I am. He was wonderful. (He usually is.) I got the chance to hear and correct myself. Each member of my group writes in a different genre: there is no comparison. Thanks!
Your welcome Andrea!
So glad it was helpful. I spent years in a writing group feeling like I had 3 heads because my genre was so vastly different from the others. What a blessing to finally realize I didn’t need to be the same.
BTW I adore your writing.
Absolutely loved this! Your image of all the different flowers unfolding their particular beauty in their own time and way really hits home, thank you.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES! What a great reminder because it’s so true, Comparison is the thief of joy. xxoo <3