In dire need of a chicken

People. I forgot to eat today. Which wouldn't be particularly terrible, except that I don't often eat breakfast since I find it nauseating. So for the fifty minutes I was on the bus, while I was listening to beautiful ground-breaking music, the people around me were subjected to the rumbles and grumbles of my internal organs.

I noticed something on my walk home. There's a particular section of my walk that makes me feel really short. I'd imagine that it has something to do with oversized plants, long roads, and that old awareness of being tiny. I know that I've grown considerably, but you have to understand that for the majority of my life so far I've been sitting in the front row of school photos. One year I managed to escape to the second row and I felt euphoric, despite being very outgrown on all sides and returning to the front the next year. But I digress, feeling small is natural to me.

Today was different. Today there were a couple of people walking in the opposite direction, and I suddenly felt tall. Ok, so they weren't exactly what you'd call average height, but my point remains.

With nothing to compare to, you could be the most miniscule person on the planet yet be right in saying you're tall. You could have an amazing singing voice yet be right in saying you're the worst. It works in every way you can think of: height, skill, intelligence. Now, I don't think it's worth comparing yourself to everything. For the sake of your sanity as well as its futility. There's a distinction to be made between what's worth comparing or living up to and what's not. For example, I could compare myself to Bettina and have a nervous breakdown because in no way could I ever be as practiced in piano or ballet.

I could compare myself to Elaine and lose hope because I'm not as well educated in the finer points of Literature and Philosophy.

I could compare myself to Andrea and sigh because she's more focused than I.

I could compare myself to Clara and want to jump off a bridge because she's fluent in mechanics and I'm... not exactly. :P

But then I know that I'm not entirely incompetent. I know that my knowledge or Regency Classics isn't too bad, that I can speak a language not many of you can, that I have had a unique cross-cultural upbringing. I also know that I don't expect Brooks to start speaking to me in Dutch or to have an in-depth discussion about Northanger Abbey with Mike. It's not that I think less of them, just that it's not a point of comparison.

Which begs the question, what to compare to if to compare at all? (Before I try to answer that, it's worth noting that a positive comparison is what you're after. I highly doubt feeling dejected and deflated is going to make you a better person.) Compare yourself to people you admire, people with a quality you'd like to have. See what they do that makes you admire them or how that quality comes into play daily. Then emulate them. I don't mean follow them around like a sick puppy and repeat their every move, it's not a copy-paste thing. It's more of a transplant, it has to match, and you might have to alter some things to make that match.

Comment with who you compare yourself to, I'm curious!

And people... encourage each other, it does wonders to a community (: