My husband is finishing his teaching credential. My best friend is operating her business. My college squad is achieving or about to achieve more than you could imagine: going to the best vet schools in the world, getting graduate degrees, killing the game in the professional world, and leading in ministry. They’re blazing their own paths and developing their futures. And here I am: not using my degree (which I’m so passionate about), not even working in my field, not living where I had wanted to live, and not being around all the people I so want to be with. And you know what? If I dwelled on those things, if I stayed in that mindset, I’d flounder and die.
It feels like I’m the only one “not.” I get so caught up in my friends’ successes and am genuinely happy for all of them, but alone, in the silence, I can be swallowed up by the “not.” And if I am swallowed up by what I am not being or what I am not doing, I become what I am not. Our self-talk truly can limit us, and if I say I am not enough, I will not be enough. Surrounded by success, I easily fall into feeling like a failure, but feeling that way is truly the only time I am failing myself. Comparing myself to others makes me identify myself by what feel I am not, instead of by who I am.