I am the most confident person in the room, until I start comparing myself to others. When speaking about my weight loss, I feel excellent about how far I’ve come, until I see that someone else is losing weight faster. When I’m playing my songs for an audience, I feel like a talented singer-songwriter, until I hear someone better. Comparison is a nasty disease that eats away at our self-confidence.

Apple-Orange-Comparison

Let’s get this ugly little truth out of the way: There will always be someone who is better than us at something. Go ahead, swallow that jagged little pill. Once you do, we can move forward to the good news.

The good news is, while someone might be better than us at a particular skill, no one can be better than us at actually being ourselves. There’s only one you, and one me. We both have a vital piece to this puzzle of life, but, sadly, the puzzle will stay incomplete if we constantly shrink back from opportunities because we are comparing ourselves to others.

As of this week, I’ve lost 105 lbs. That is something I should celebrate. And if I’m tempted to slap a comparison sticker on it, I should only compare it to where I was a year ago today. If I crunch those numbers, I find that I’m very pleased with my performance. That’s what it should all boil down to anyway, right? Am I being the best me? Are you being the best you? Because, honestly, you can’t be the best anyone else. So how ‘bout we stop comparing ourselves to each other and start being our awesome selves? Deal?

After all, no one else can write the melodies in your head. No one else can type the words to your story. Without them, the puzzle is incomplete.