The Art of Being Better: Curiosity vs Comparison

Never thought I'd get to here

Curiosity vs Comparison

I don’t know why so many sayings have something to do with killing or skinning cats, but I don’t think curiosity had anything to do with that poor cat’s demise.

Curiosity had nothing to do with it; comparison did.

When we compare ourselves to someone else’s success, we may be happy for them temporarily, but then that happiness becomes our shame and guilt; it becomes, “why them and not me.”

In striving to be better, don’t compare yourself to anyone else.

Your only competition; your only competitor; your only measure of comparison is you.

As you seek to be better, measure yourself against your former space.

When my older children came to me, they were severely delayed. They worked very hard and I did my best to get what they needed to grow. They did exceptionally well, but were still behind the national average.

One of their teachers said that she felt she had not done a good job at helping my daughter succeed. I looked at the scores and told her that she was not reading them correctly.

She was looking at where she wanted my daughter to be, but she hadn’t seen how far they both had come.

Comparison can get you into a world of “I’m not good enough’s.”

Curiosity can get you to places you never thought you'd be.

This year, as we grow better, start by determining where you are. Look at how far you have already come. Be grateful for all you have endured and the level of success you’ve already had and then look for new ways to get to new places.

Be joyous and confident that if you got here, you will get there.

Be you, be your journey, be better.

Bertice Berry, PhD.