I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase before that the “Grass is always greener on the other side”. It’s nothing new. The basic meaning of it is that what someone else has possession of looks a lot more desirable than what you have. We have been seeing this for years with the increased popularity of social media. We can now control our entire image; we put out our best and prettiest moments. In other words, we only show the world our highlight reel.
When we are on the flip side, it can cause jealousy. We can spend hours scrolling others’ highlight reels and seeing how perfect their lives seem to be. Thoughts of comparison arise: ‘I wish I had that body”, ‘I wish I had that car’, ‘I wish I could lift that much’, etc. Whatever the ‘thing’ is that you desire in your own life, well, you can follow tons of people on social media that have it. And that someone else is doing it better or looking better than you.
Did you see where the problem arose? It wasn’t necessarily the looking and the scrolling. No, it was the comparison. The greed. The jealousy. The wishing. When we compare our lives to everyone else’s perfect image, it should come as no surprise that we feel discontent with our lives. So, let’s change the narrative. How do we go from “their grass is greener than mine” to “my grass is amazing…”?
Here’s where we start. Stop. Comparing. Don’t look at the grass on either side of you. Look at your own. Make your own grass a place you want to be. Add some fertilizer and water. Give it a trim every week. Set up an umbrella and some chairs. You get the picture, right? Take care of your own grass.
If there’s something you want, set up a plan and get to work.
It won’t happen looking at the rest of the world and wishing it into existence. Talk to experts, sure; but you have to do something about it. Those people you see? They likely didn’t just wish for it. They made a realistic goal, set up a plan, and then got to work. So, the only thing holding you back is you. Your laziness. Your wishing instead of doing. Your discipline and determination.
When we are more concerned about putting in the work to make our own grass a place we want to be, the comparisons stop causing so much unhappiness. We can look at our neighbors grass. We can admire it for its beauty. We can congratulate our neighbor on how amazing their grass is and be happy for them. And we can stop wishing for what they have because we like what we have too. We can be so happy with our own grass and also be happy for what others have too. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
-Coach Kristen