In the past week life has decided to throw some surprises my way.
Expensive surprises.
I don't know if you know this, but I'm not sitting on a whole pile of money these days.
I spent most of yesterday bemoaning my difficult life and just how unfair it all is and freaking out about how everything would get taken care of.
It was all very woe is me and overly dramatic.
But in the moment, it made sense to me.
In the moment, all I could see was my peers who don't have to work because their parents pay for everything.
In the moment, my mind replayed over and over the struggles of growing up without a whole lot.
All I could see was how unfair it was.
All I could see was people around me who haven't had to take on any responsibilities in life or even start to grow up.
And those moments sucked.
But I've had a perspective shift in the past 24 hours for a couple of reasons.
The first being thanks to a little thing called Global Rich List.
This site lets you put in your income and it tells you where you stand in the world.
I found out that I'm in the top 5.23% of the richest people in the world.
Talk about being slapped back to sense.
94% of the world lives on less money than me.
Who am I to complain about money, ever?
The second thing that helped me change my thinking was my parents.
I realized that when they were my age, they were already raising 2 kids.
My mom worked her way through college while raising my sister on her own until my dad came into the picture. I'm barely making it through with my jobs and school, so my mom must be superwoman to have pulled this off.
And my dad, that guy. Talk about someone who worked hard to get where he is today and always provide for his family. That guy truly amazes me. And kind of makes me question the necessity of college.
Anyway, my parents didn't have it easy growing up either. We don't come from money.
They didn't have parents who handed them everything. They've worked hard their whole lives too.
They understand.
I'm sure they looked around them at one point and were jealous of their peers who seemed to have it easier. Maybe not, I dunno.
Basically, I've learned that I have to stop looking at other people's lives.
That's not the life I've been given, but the one I have is great!
When I compare my life to the people around me, sure it looks hard sometimes.
But when I really think about it, my life looks so easy to about 94% of the world.
Life isn't fair, and it never will be.
Comparison really will steal your joy.
Looking around isn't going to change my situation.
Being content and thankful for what I do have certainly will change how I walk through any given situation in life though.
So here's to living my life, and not wishing for someone else's.
