Comparison is lethal to contentment

Just finished reading...

A well-timed, aptly-titled article in July's VOGUE.

Reality Check written by Maggie McGuane has inspired me.



Newly divorced, mother of 2 exposes her trials of going from riches to rags. Not a sob story, by any stretch. Instead, a tale of decifering needs from wants and getting creative in order to provide for herself & her family.



Some highlights:

"I was weighted down by my oppressive sense of entitlement.

My expectations brought chronic disappointment. Clearly, I needed to appraise them."



"I needed to learn how to "make do," a concept so entirely out of fashion that the phrase connotes English war brides or repressed 1950s housewives....There was a house to make into a home...the task of creating a life going forward that was just as rich and full as it had been when money was more plentiful".



"Luxuries I once deemed necessities, from organic baby greens to face lotion from the depths of the ocean, were placed back in the category where they belonged.

I was forced to admit that though I wanted some things very much, I was not entitled to them."



"I turned the thermostat down, way down-there's a photo of our last family Thanksgiving in which we're all wearing our coats at the dinner table. I stocked the Deepfreeze...so we weren't tempted by an empty fridge to eat out."



"I still crave beautiful things; I just wait a little longer to get them."



"Comparison is lethal to contentment..."



Golly, was this a reality check for me. What I think I'm entitled to-either because we have the money in the bank to pay for it or because plenty of people have them-therefore I'm not being unreasonable and what I actually need get muddled.



I 110% believe that "comparison is lethal to contentment."

From your own body image to your material possessions, your vacations to your achievements, you name it-it applies.







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