Let’s face it. In today’s world, oversharing has become a way of life- a skill even. The ability to check in on people’s lives from halfway across the world has become all too familiar and accessible. So it should come as no surprise that when the new year rolls around, we will likely find ourselves tracking some random girl’s road to weight loss or a distant relative’s journey to finally moving out of their parent’s house and heading to L.A. Watching people accomplish their dreams is a beautiful thing, but I will be the first to say that being surrounded by success after success can make your own personal accomplishments pale in comparison. As petty and selfish as it may seem, being just a little bitter over other people’s achievements may be unavoidable at the end of the day- after all, we’re only human.
Believe it or not, change doesn’t happen overnight. As much as motivational social media posts want you to believe otherwise, it takes weeks, months, even years before change finally comes strolling through the door. Of course, this is the exact reason why it feels so good when you can finally step back and take immense pride in your work, but the seemingly endless time before this oh-so-sweet moment of victory can be discouraging.
It’s easy to soak in jealousy and self-hate because it appears as if you’re still in the same spot you were in last year while everyone else is getting their lives together and rubbing it in your face. But odds are, you’re not doing so bad yourself. It may not be as noticed or receive as many congratulations text messages, but that shouldn’t take away from your well-deserved acknowledgement.
“The point is, true wins in life aren’t always the most obvious and often times, we are the only ones stopping ourselves from seeing how amazing we actually are.”
Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost the appreciation for the small victories in life. We bypass the minuscule moments of improvement because they’re forced to live in the shadow of the grand scenes straight from reality TV. We don’t all have the money to fly out to New York or to buy the Lamborghini of a rapper’s dreams (but props to you if you do!) and that’s perfectly okay. The real improvement comes during those moments when you paid your rent on time or in the way that you finally mastered budgeting so you can save up for your dream school, or maybe when you discover the secret ingredient missing from your near-perfect spaghetti recipe. The point is, true wins in life aren’t always the most obvious and often times, we are the only ones stopping ourselves from seeing how amazing we actually are.
The days when it seems like everyone except for you has come eye-to-eye with their dreams are the absolute worst, but it’s important to remember that we don’t all dream in the exact same way. Some people dream in vivid colour while others dream in sharp monochrome. We all have to start somewhere and baby steps to get where you want to go are just as good as giant leaps. So this New Years, chill with the toxic self-comparison. Sit back and take pride in the work you’ve done because I guarantee that you are a lot farther right now than you were two years ago.
