That’s a tall order, but it got your attention, didn’t it?
Full disclosure … this post has nothing to do with the pandemic. As a lifelong journalist, I learned to use headlines as a way to get attention.
Now that I have it, I want to tell you about a few of the things I’ve been pondering during the pandemic. Things like … well, peace.
Peace begins when you stop comparing yourself to others and start comparing yourself … to who you are.
… not to who you were. Because who you were is the foundation that helped shape who you are.
… not to who you can. Because who you can be depends on who you are.
Peace is all about who you are.
Because who you are is perfect. Right here. Right now.
Who you were got you here.
Who you can be sets up expectations that can be less than what you were meant to be. It inhibits your growth.
As to comparing yourself to others, that’s their journey, not yours.
It’s like having a ticket to travel around the world, but trading it in for bus fare to your neighbor’s house because the new car sitting in their driveway looks so amazing.
Go. Travel the road less traveled and enjoy yourself!
But despite all our best efforts, we do tend to compare ourselves to what was and what will be. The silver lining is that comparison eventually leads to acceptance.
Once you stop comparing your past and future self, and start accepting your present self — knowing it’s exactly who and where you’re supposed to be — you begin to focus on the now. And that, my friends, leads to peace, to the delicious reality that now is all there is.
Stay for a while and enjoy.
Trading Barbs With Barb 
Your work is insightful as always. Thanks Barb.
Who we were no longer exists and who we want to become may or may not ever come to pass. So we just have to relish and celebrate who we are now.
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