I don't know about you but I can fall in to the trap of comparison.  Yesterday was a perfect example.  I have started training for a triathlon.  Its been nearly ten years since I have done much swimming other than for fun. 

 

Yesterday was my third training swim.  I started out well and swam half the distance I will be swimming in the race.  I was feeling pretty good and then something happened.  Another swimmer jumped in next to me.  At a glance, I decided that she must be a bit older than me.  I am competitive so after a couple of laps I noticed that she was faster than me.  I picked up my pace and tried to catch her but could not.  I started getting really down on myself and then I noticed something that changed everything.

 

I caught a glimpse of something just below the surface.  Fins!!!  She had fins on her feet while she was swimming.  Now wonder I could not keep up with her. 

 

What is my point in sharing this?  To let you know that I struggle with comparison?  Ok its true but here is my point.  We don't see what's blow the surface when we make comparisons.  Each of us has our own unique story so when we make comparisons based on what we see on the surface we will always be disappointed.  God made each of us unique and each of us has something special to contribute to this world. 

 

We need to stop focusing on trying to be better than others and focus on getting better every day.   When we do this we are sure to succeed.

 

 

 

 

For those of you that know me, I am a dig deep no excuses kind of girl.  I like to make things happen and I don't have much patience for excuses.  This has served me pretty well in life helping me to accomplish many things.

Recently, I have found myself pushing really hard, overcoming obstacles and just plain getting it done  I also found myself at the end of my rope.  I was mentally and physically exhausted I did not think I could push any harder.

Thankfully God is amazing with his timing when he is trying to teach me something.  In the middle of a near melt down he showed me that I needed to be putting him first and that his strength begins when I get to the end of me. 

I started prioritizing my quiet time again and gave myself some permission to slow down.  In slowing down I started listening to The Gifts of Imperfection by Brenee Brown.  She shares about how you should dig deep and it does not mean just gutting it out.  The above picture is from her book.  The "D" being the one that I need to focus on the most.  I need to get deliberate about focusing on my faith which is where I truly derive my strength.

So the next time you feel like you are at the end of your rope don't just dig deep.  Get deliberate, get inspired and get going!!!

Contentment

 

I would like to share something that has helped us to reach financial freedom.  You might be surprised to hear that we have not accomplished this by making a huge amount of money.  Both of us have had successful careers but for a long time lived off of just one income.  For part of this time we put the second income in savings and part of it we only had one income due to a variety of things.  For the first several months after we brought Jacob home, neither of us worked.  The reason I share this is that I think that there is a huge misconception that wealth and income are related.  Yes you do have to earn money to pay your bills but some of the people that make the most money are flat broke.

 

One of the biggest things that helped us to be successful was learning to be content with what we had.  The furniture pictured above was never really my taste but it was good quality and served its purpose so we kept it.  Now that we are in a different place financially we were able to update this room without using credit for any of it.  I truly believe that learning to be content where you are at is a big key to being successful with money.  There will always be a newer, faster, better model.  Keeping up with the neighbors just means you will be broke like the neighbors.

 

Can you think of any areas that you need to practice contentment?  I would love to hear from you.