Picture this – You are busting your gut at the gym, grunting with your 5 kilo dumbbell, working reallllyyy hard to get in shape.
Beads of sweat run down your face, which looks like a sweltering tomato but you feel so good about yourself. You are totally rocking this work out and strangely enough enjoying it!
Until..
Miss Supermodel glides into the gym, proceeds to walk on the treadmill for a few minutes before reclining into a gentle Savasana. She takes a sip of coconut water, snaps a quick selfie #Fitspo and smiles. She doesn’t seem to be exerting herself AT ALL and yet she’s got a rockin’ body that would make Heidi Klum jealous.
WTH?
Comparison is the thief of joy
When you compare yourself to someone who ‘appears’ to be gorgeous, wildly successful, well connected etc – and they are not even working that hard – it’s totally reasonable to feel a pang of jealousy. I mean, how could you not? You’re human. Miss supermodel is obviously… another species.
Throughout my life I have had serious struggles with what I now call – MSS (Miss Supermodel Syndrome)
MSS is what happens when you find somebody who appears to be light years ahead of you in anything – business success, athletic ability, financial freedom, life experience, so much so that you find yourself frantically Facebook stalking to see if these claims are really true.
MSS is a terrible, self-esteem crushing disease that does not help YOU to achieve one single thing.
I have learned the hard way that spending any kind of energy obsessing over the success of other people does not make you successful.
What it does is take you away from the work you are doing, and the gift you have to share with the world.
The next time you find yourself scrolling through your Facebook feed, fuming with rage because someone has just posted their before and after photos claiming they lost ten kilo’s by drinking lemon water… stop the MSS.
Stop focusing of them and start taking a good, honest look at what you’re doing in your own life in the areas that are important to you.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
My conversation usually goes a bit like this. Tiffany, are you actually doing the work needed to serve your customers? Are you being consistent with your workouts and eating plans? Are you sticking to the budget you agreed on with your husband?
OR, are you spending a whole lot of energy obsessing over other people’s work and life, comparing it to your own, getting mad, sad and digging a big ol’ shame hole ?
In reality you can not control the world around you. You can’t control what people choose to share on Facebook, or someone else’s natural, genetic body type, or that their husband works for the airline and has amazing travel connections, or any of that.
You can control how you show up in your own life.
You can choose to serve the people in your business with everything you’ve got, you can choose to set goals that inspire you, you can choose to be committed to and excited about the budget you’ve set because of the freedom it will bring you, the exercise plan you’ve made and go for it with everything you’ve got.
When I am lit up about what I’m doing in my life, when I am being creative – that’s when MSS disappears for me.
I bet that will happen for you too. So, finish your workout, call that customer, make a plan for your day, get excited about YOUR life and get out there and live to the best of your abilities.
Tiff x
* The title of this blog post is a quote from Marie Forleo. Love that lady!
