Comparison

This is a huge word in our culture and in this day and age. Every day I run across “oh I wish I had that girl’s wardrobe” or “that girl’s butt is so good why can’t mine be like that”, or “why is he always traveling and I never get to go anywhere”….. The biggest one though out there I feel is the body comparison. I know I am guilty of this to a tee. Especially when I’m at the gym and I see a girl lifting heavier that me or her arms are just that much bigger and toned. I used to struggle with that a lot…..and honestly still do a little. Always comparing myself to the girl next to me until one day I realized how unhappy I was because of that. I no longer was looking at my progress, but was always wanting the greener grass on the other side of the fence. Or I’d have the thoughts…. “dang I lift as much as her why does she look better?” One: duuuuh Mikaela everyone has different body shapes and sizes and two and she doesn’t look better she just looks different. That’s what I’ve had to keep telling myself, the girl next to me is different from me. we aren’t the same person. Maybe the way her muscles were put on my body they would look strange on me…. We are all our own people and get to our goals at different times and rates.

So now a days when I find myself starting to compare my body to the girl next to me who’s lifting heavier I use it as motivation. I use it as a learning tool….. I put it in my back pocket as something I can work towards bettering myself. I’ve noticed actually once I made that change of mindset my workouts have improved. I was able to use that motivation and push myself to lift that heavier weight or do that extra bunch of reps. And the most exciting thing is I love myself more…. I have struggled over the years with not liking my body and don’t get me wrong I still have times when I struggle with wanting a certain look and not having it just yet, but I am so much more confident in my own skin.

The only girl I compare myself to these days is myself. I’ll flip through old pictures and think wow look how far I’ve come when I start feeling down and how can I use this to do better tomorrow. There will always be that bigger better thing or body we all want, there’s no denying that, BUT how can we find the motivation in ourselves to reach our OWN goals not somebody else’s reality or goals. I want to be done comparing and now just look towards motivation. That’s my goal! xo