As I was thinking about what to share with you or ask you in this Life Strategy, lots of different things came to mind.
And one jumped out from my memory that surprised me.
It reminded me of when I would spontaneously and intuitively add a topic into a speech I was giving based on the energy of my audience.
Each time, several people would come up to me later and thank me because they really needed that part.
So, I'm going to share what came to mind and you let me know if it touches you.
When I was in my early 20's I was an interior decorator. The guy I worked with to install window treatments my clients purchased was named Kyle.
Kyle was a couple years younger than me but I was single and he had a lovely wife and a little girl, a big beautiful home in the right part of town, a TV that was bigger than my car, and went on fabulous vacations.
Kyle had it all.
I went on to another business venture after a few more years deep in debt and we lost touch.
He would come to mind occasionally as the guy who had it all and even with my eternally positive attitude, I always felt like I should be further along than I was.
Or be making more money.
Or have an amazing love in my life.
Or be more "adult" than I felt.
Fast forward 20 years (about 2002), and I see Kyle in Target. We sat down in the snack bar to talk.
I didn't tell him I knew he'd divorced and lost his business.
Or that his ex-wife mentioned his suspected mental illness when she attended my high school reunion with a classmate.
As we talked, I noticed Kyle seemed much different than the cheerful, successful man I had admired and ...yes, envied years before.
I had a great boyfriend of 2 years and my self-defense business with plenty of success and local notoriety but still not feeling at the top of my game just yet.
It felt like I needed to defend myself when Kyle said very sarcastically, "Oh yeah. You were always into all that positive shit."
Even though he was now a complaining taxi driver, I found myself comparing my current life to his great life of two decades before.
How could I do that?
I knew consciously there was no need to compare and that my life was good.
And his obviously had changed dramatically...
But that ugly emotional junk-ball of "not good enough" was still nipping at me.
I remember leaving the snack bar feeling under-accomplished and wanting to brush Kyle's negative energy off of me.
A couple weeks later, a man was hit and killed when he intentionally stepped in front of a car near some low-cost apartments where he lived.
It was Kyle.
The person I'd wanted to live like didn't want to live.
It's natural to compare yourself to other people, Friend.
And it's important to notice when you need to go in a new direction and make necessary adjustments.
When you are listening to the wrong people...
Have friends who are no longer in alignment with where you want to go or who you want to become...
When you need to be solo for awhile, finally leaving your unfulfilling relationship...
Or... simply get into that positive sh*%.
Know that you are in good company. And life can change quickly for the better whenever you're ready. ;)
