I have approximately 20 minutes before I need to leave for the dentist. In that time I thought I’d chat about two things I’ve been thinking a lot about these last few weeks.
Competition. And change. (And jealousy, but that’s whole different post).
Competition feeds into change. It makes you hungry. It drives you to do more and do it better (faster! stronger!) But more often than not I fall into the “comparison” trap and end up worse-for-wear…feeling bad about myself and my life and my talents. When in reality, a little healthy competition is good. (And no, I don’t view EVERYTHING as a giant competition, either. I’m not always competing or comparing myself.)
Which brings me to change. As I grow older (ha) I’ve started adapting to and accepting/appreciating change in a very different way. When I was in college I used to have a rigid minute-by-minute schedule of my day that accounted for class, studying, one meal, extracurricular meetings, a shower, occasionally the gym…and little else. I HAD to follow it or I got so frazzled and would waste even MORE time re-organizing my schedule if something came up in the middle of the day. To be fair, I did finish a 4-year program in 3-years because of that but let’s just say…change…in any capacity…was just not welcome.
Now…I don’t resist change…I accept it (begrudgingly, sometimes) and try to adapt as best as possible. Which is funny because my boyfriend knows I like my routines…I can’t get into bed unless I’ve showered…All of the flatware needs to be rotated on a FIFO-like inventory…and don’t even get me started on how upset I get when the tags on blankets and covers is going in the wrong direction (bottom right, for those interested). But when it comes to larger things…going on a spontaneous adventure even if I planned to stay in…trying new foods…TRAVELING…routine and stability happily gets thrown out the window for something new.
So keeping with the “2015 IS GOING TO BE THE BEST YEAR EVER” theme…I’m trying to put aside my hard feelings about competition, comparison, and change and pretend like we’ve been best friends all along.