When you're in the waiting

Recently I heard a quote I loved “we can’t connect when we compare.” Whew! It’s easy to look around and see where someone else is in their life and compare, compare, compare. But it’s pointless. 

A few weeks ago I took the baby with me to a consignment sale. (He didn't have enough 12 and 18-month clothes. So I was on a bargain hunt.)

 I passed by these daffodils on my way in. These are among my favorite flowers. It’s like sunshine shooting out of the ground.

Looking at those flowers got me thinking. The bulbs lay in wait for their turn all year. There they sit, buried under the dirt just waiting. They endure cold and extreme heat and the crunch of leaves falling in them. But year after year they return. We see them in a burst of glory. They’re gorgeous and vibrant. But what we don’t see is the waiting. We don’t see the work they did before they broke through the surface. We don’t see the super scientific details. We just see the end result. Remember that before you begin to compare where you are to someone else. 

It's really easy to look at where someone is in there life and only see the good stuff. We see their highlight reel but we don't see the behind the scenes that went into it. 

Maybe they're finally debt free, maybe they have a really great marriage, or a baby on the way or their business is raking it in. But we don't see all of the blood, sweat, and tears it took to get there. 

We've all heard "comparison is the thief of joy." We hear it to the point we roll our eyes. But it's true. 

We don't see the amount of sleepless nights and crying and clawing it takes a person to get to their dream point. We only see the blooms. We don't see all the work. The root system developing. We only see the end result. 
 

I just want to remind you that your time is going to come. There is an insane amount of work to get there, but whatever it is you're fighting for, you will get there. Now, it might not look like you thought it would. It might end up completely different, but wonderful in its own way. 

Don't quit. Keep working. Keep fighting. Keep scrapping. You will get there.