The Grass is Greener

It hurts my heart when I see common attitudes of being jealous, dissatisfied, discontent, when people anxiously try to keep up with the Joneses, not like a sport, but a job. Most people want to be as good as the next, accepted, held in good opinion, but where does it get us to not to be our own best friend. Everyone is so hard on everyone else. People work hard to earn their keep. It is a lot of work to always need more. It is less work, and more rewarding, to learn how to self-love and not compare our lives, wages, material goods, skills, attributes, abilities, or titles to others, but rather in the context of self- and social awareness. We can choose to believe that the grass is greener in our own backyards. We can acknowledge that the life we’ve built, no matter what stage it’s in, is beautiful.

Most everyone wants to make a good lifestyle for their families, but what does it mean when one person has more than the other? Anything at all? The idea of the bigger house, better career, having more and more can drive a person into an enslaved mentality, bound to the next goal lest we feel like we are not enough. The truth is you are enough. Everyone is, and what each person has or doesn’t have anything to do with that fact.

Our measuring stick is not what others say or think, but what we want for ourselves. Competition is good and healthy in all areas of life, but not in the form of feeling bad about yourself because someone has more. We all have different paths, all have different struggles and life circumstance, all of our lives look different. If we can get our eyes off of what a good life is supposed to look like, we might be satisfied with the one we have. It is good to have all the ambition and desires to help the world, just as long as when each person closes their sweet lids every night, there is a large patch of green green grass.

The argument exists that to get what you want in life, you plan well and work hard. This system works, as long as everyone in that process aren’t lesser human beings, and are offered the same opportunities. There will never be total equality, and we are still in barbaric times in my opinion, but no matter what you have, or don’t, each person at some point looks in the mirror and says you’re all I’ve got.  Ultimately, we take responsibility for ourselves and our own happiness. Why wait for circumstances to change before enjoying the life we have? We can be content now. We can be kind to ourselves. Whatever our financial, or family issues, we have a choice to love our own lives and be proud of ourselves.

We might not like everything about our daily to do lists, we might feel mundane compared to what others are doing, but again, we can feel good about our little lists.  Stress doesn’t have to lead to a mess. We can strive for more, but it is who we are that is most satisfying, in the qualities of the human being, not money, not possession. Everyone loves the great human struggle, to see the heroic tales. Our own lives have the same dynamics, lets get passionate about that. Let’s stop, in general, with the harsh comparisons that lead to putting others, or yourself down. Instead, being happy for someone else. Wanting the very best for someone else is liberating.

It seems hard to escape the excessive need for approval that is commonly exhibited throughout our social and media culture. This is what is taught to compare our lives with bias and prejudices, when we could be allowing ourselves and others to share space, to live without feeling dissatisfied, without complaining about every little meaningless thing. To not feel constantly at odds, jealous, angry, bitter, inadequate, opens a whole new world of potential, contentment, community, and self-love. Our paradigms can be our strengths or weakness. Valuing material wealth has nothing to do with your importance as a human being or anyone else’s.

Love your life. The grass is always greener- here, right where you are, right where I am. Time is too short to not be in love with what we already have. Everyone has their life, though all things vary and change. What remains is us, no matter what changes have occurred inside, or out. The best we could ever have, is who we are. The grass is greener in the daily appreciation of the process of ourselves. The most beautiful life you could ever live- yourself.