A Little Healthy Competition

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Olympics. I really do. Winter or summer, Torino or Vancouver...I LOVE the Olympics. Watching the opening ceremonies last night I marveled at the wonder in the athletes' eyes as they walked into the stadium. I envied the hope of gold in all of their hearts as the waved their flags in front of a crowd of 60,000. How neat, men and women from so many countries, political tensions put aside for the sake of healthy competition.

Then we have the competitions in our lives that are less than healthy. The competitions that pin us against the people we should align ourselves with. Our neighbors, our siblings, our friends...the people in our lives who should be our support systems can so easily become the people we see as threats to our happiness.

It is so important that we take a step back and realize we can't and shouldn't measure our success by other people's lives. How boring would life be of we were all meant to do the same things and live the same way? We need to realize our accomplishments aren't measured against other's, but by the happiness they bring us...the happiness we can bring ourselves.

I like to believe I'm not competitive with the people in my life, but I'm probably only fooling myself. I'm not immune to the very thing I'm blogging against. I will say I am making an honest effort to reassess how I evaluate myself and my life. My FAVORITE quote, which I know I have used before, "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt

YOU are in charge of your happiness. YOU are your best friend and your worst enemy. YOU are your own competition, because every body's elses life is everybody elses. THIS is yours, so live it and live it well.