...you're better than me.

Life is not a competition.

Don't think about how good you have to be, or who you have to be better than. You don't

have

to do or be anything. Think

back to when you first got into something that you love to do.

Why

did you want to do it in the first place? Because it brought you joy? you felt purpose by doing that certain activity? Yet once you've gone a certain distance, it isn't so fun anymore.

When did life stop being fun?

So tell me, who decides what we do well and what we should or should not do? Is it the judges, or the critics? Is it shame? Parents? A huge component that we often forget is that

all those who judge us are biased

—

that's what judging means. It's their OPINION, not hard, cold fact.

We judge people all the time

—

based on how they act, what they wear, who they hang out with. Critics and bosses do the same thing but their opinions are typed out, made public, and declared 'official'. They compare us to someone who is better than us. That's the problem most of us run into at some point

—

we compare ourselves to others, too

. The slap in the face of truth is that there will always be someone 'better'. Is this going to make you feel confident? Is it going to help you in any positive way? NO!!

You need to compare yourself... to yourself. How have you improved? What can you do better now that was hard before? Looking ahead is good, but glancing back at where you've been can boost your self-esteem.

Feeling sorry for yourself is NOT going to solve anything; it'll make

everything

worse.

When you're in a negative mood, everything feels harder, takes longer, and you won't improve as quickly

—

you won't enjoy what you do anymore if you don't have purpose. How are you going to get anywhere in life if you never have fun sometimes?

Keep trying, and never give up. You need to do things for yourself— not the trophy, not the job; not the satisfaction of being 'better' than someone else— but for the simple reason of loving what you're doing and enjoying it all.

One of my favorite words is

'determination'

. Why? Because it not only means

'the deciding of an outcome'

and '

the firmness of

purpose

—

resoluteness!'

, but also because it is a reminder to

NEVER

give up

When I was a dancer, I taught classes; it was so much fun, and I'll never forget the experience. However, when I had the onset of pain from a mysterious injury, I was feeling down. The doctors put me into a big, green cast because they couldn't for the life of them figure out what was wrong with my foot.

Then I was faced with a dilemma: should I quit teaching? I didn't want to even think about the looming possibility of my dancing career ending, so I tried to gather my courage and keep moving forward...

So I taught classes with the cast on my foot. 😉 One of my students was even amazingly encouraging enough to create a depiction of my determination, along with a description (on the left).

It's a treasure, lol. I'm never getting rid of it ❤️. The thing about determination is that it stems from something much more precious—

hope

. This is going to be a huge theme in my blog, running throughout everything I write; hope is very important, and it encourages so many incredible strengths

Once you receive hope— and learn to nurture it— you’ll find that you have so much of it, you can share it with everyone around you. So

BE FILLED WITH DETERMINATION

when something comes your way!

—Joelle :)

What's something you really want to do, but feel like you don't have determination to do it? Comment below, and we can get stronger together!

I'm Better Than You!

...you're better than me.

Determination ❤️

today is day one

...you're better than me.