BoldlyU Magazine Issue 4 | Page 43

ST RICT LY T WEENS
Little time is left for you to pause , take note of how you are doing and accept that you may feel tired and need to turn off the chatter ’ and focus on your personal needs . Focusing on your needs can be a part of accepting how you are doing without the burden of living up to the expectations of others .
Comparing who we are to others is easy to do – when we are sitting in class , how can we not look at the girl next to us wearing cute Birkenstocks and think … I wish I could afford shoes like that . Or when we are in gym class , and another kid can do 15 pull-ups , our brain can pretty quickly go to judging our inability to do even one pull-up . Our thoughts may automatically go to thinking that everyone else is happy . Of course , we can find others who are better at something than us – there will always be people in our lives who are wealthier , smarter , skinnier , more out-going or braver . But we can only truly compare ourselves to ourselves . Are we doing the best we can today ? Are we accepting our strengths and weaknesses ? We can desire to be the best basketball player in the country , but few of us will reach this goal – we have to be realistic and accept that we can only do OUR best , not Lebron James ’ best !
Accepting who we are IS easier said than done , but focusing on accepting our strengths and weaknesses and only comparing ourselves to our best can be a great place to start . The new year will bring new adventures and new opportunities to find peace in accepting ourselves , both good and bad !
“... we have to be realistic and accept that we can only do OUR best , not Lebron James ’ best !”

Jenny Coon , M . Ed , LPC Coplen Christian Counseling