Comparison is the theif of Joy

Over the past year of being on Instagram I have started following quite a few people. I saw somebody that I thought had a great body, I followed. I saw great healthy recipe/food accounts, I followed. Well, over the past two weeks I have been really thinking about the people I follow. I would get on to check out my feed and see picture after picture of women who I deemed as having "perfect" bodies. It would leave me feeling bad about myself like I'm not working out hard enough or eating healthy enough. I began to compare myself to these bikini and fitness models and feel like I needed to look like them. It's not reality. I do not compete in figure and bikini competitions, I don't want to. I don't personally feel I have the time and energy -or money- to do that kind of thing. Hats off to all who do and double hats off to all the mothers that do it! I think that is amazing!

What I am getting at is, here I am 26 years old with two children and I am seeing picture after picture of these fitness models who many were barely in their 20's and have no kids. I am not taking away from what these women have and are accomplishing, it takes a lot of dedication to be that age and to have such will power and structure. But I, personally, must stop comparing myself to them. I am not them and they are not me. Just as they work their butts off to be in their best shape, so do I. We all have different circumstances and situations and we are all, for the most part, trying to do our very best and I want to let you know....you are beautiful and imperfectly perfect and doing the best you can with what you are given. We all are.

Our culture tries to define how we should look physically and we feed into it by allowing those opinions to shape our beliefs of ourselves and others.

If you find yourself making comparisons to other women thinking- they are better mom's, wives, DIYer, chef, have more money, smarter, prettier, fitter. STOP! You are perfect right as you are. God made YOU with a purpose in mind, with special talents and gifts to be used for a much bigger plan. Do more of what makes you happy and what you feel you are good at. Focus more on the good and less on the bad. Choose to be happy because you are uniquly blessed.

Today I am choosing happiness. I am choosing to feel beautiful, smart, like a good mom, a good wife, to feel fit and healthy - I hope you do the same! We are all in this together, we all have many of the same struggles and feelings. Let's support one another, give compliments as much as possible, offer help when needed, listen more and smile often.