one uping

lately i've been busy, tired and and a bit stressed out. i've also noticed that lately i've had the tendency to think that i am the most busy, the most tired and the most stressed out. i live around a fantastic community of people, but i've been noticing that this time of year has caused us all to be a bit on edge and i've been caught up in more "my tiredness is more than your tiredness" battles than i would care to admit. How silly is that?

While thinking this through i was reminded of a quote that i've heard attributed to both Theodore and Eleanor Roosevelt... either way, i love it! "Comparison is the thief of joy."

Yes, i may be busy. Yes, i may be tired. And yes, i may be a bit more on the stressed out side of life than i would like to be. But that doesn't give me license to forget the battle that others are going through. i think we all need to remember sometimes that just like we have days that suck and so do others. We all live such unique lives that to compare our struggles and battles isn't fair, and worst of all it detracts from those relationships that we need most during the times when we're busy/tired/stressed/fill-in-the-blank-here.

Instead of comparing our struggles and trying to one-up one another, my challenge to you and to myself is that we seek instead to be encouraging and to seek joy through these times. At the end of the day, arguing about who has it worse isn't going to make us better but an encouraging word here or there just might do the trick!