Choosing appreciation and celebration over envy and comparison...

This post is actually a note to self...

I woke up full of self-pity this morning. A few weeks ago I fixed a leaking pipe on my Ford Ikon, it's a 2011 model and then I was in a car accident on Saturday afternoon. This woman drove into us while we were stopping at a Stop sign. To top it off her drivers licence and car licence are expired so she should not even be driving. What was supposed to be a lovely family day out with my husband and my twin boys turned into in an unpleasant afternoon at the police station and with phone calls to my car insurance, my mom and my parents-in-law. So this morning when I woke up all I could think of was the excess on my car which is close to R5000 which we don't have and definitely did not budget for. And I just made my last car payment to the bank a few months ago!!! I actually owned my car and not the bank and then this happens! Then I made the mistake of scrolling through social media, I happened to come across a post of one of my Facebook friends who just purchased a new SUV, then comparison and envy crept in...I thought to myself why can't I buy a new car instead of being grateful that we didn't suffer any injuries in our accident and the fact that we don't have any car debt.

In this age of social media and the perfectly filtered lives people put on display its easy to "scroll down" a rabbit hole of envy and comparison when you see pics of the "happy families, amazing holidays, loving relationships, beautiful houses, flashy cars and perfect lives". The truth is nobody has the perfect life, everyone has their ups and downs and challenges, people only show you what they want you to see. So instead of comparing, let's appreciate our old car that we own, let's appreciate our spouses, appreciate our jobs, appreciate our children and celebrate their achievements. Let's focus on appreciating the blessings that we have, celebrating the simple things and stop comparing our lives to the lives of others.
This is a reminder to myself and to everyone reading this blog...

"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body, jealousy is like cancer in the bones." - Proverbs 14:30

"Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct." - Galatians 6:4-5






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