A response to Sara Tasker’s podcast episode with Lucy Sheridan; Hashtag Authentic

I adore Sara Tasker’s podcasts, but when I saw the title of this particular one, ‘A Cure For Comparisonitis’, I very nearly didn’t listen. Whenever the subject of comparison comes up, there is one particular phrase that is always mentioned. And it makes me scream and weep with frustration. It’s this: ….

“Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.” It’s a great sentiment, and probably useful if you are at the beginning and you are comparing yourself with people further on than you. However, I’m not at the beginning. I’m probably not even in the middle, and when I hear that phrase, I’m very close to my end. Because really, I don’t think I have much of a problem with comparing myself with others – I just don’t have the time for it! But when people keep mentioning it; that’s when I find myself doing it! And that phrase (or words to the same effect) are mentioned and I think how long I’ve been doing this for. Fourteen and a half years; and some days I can barely muster a handful of readers on this blog. There’s one word for that: Failure. And there’s barely anyone who’s been at this blogging lark longer than me; so there’s no-one ahead; no-one successful to compare myself to who’s been blogging for twenty-eight years; but plenty who’ve been doing it for five or six and are now paying their mortgage with its income. Ok, I admit it, occasionally the words ‘bully for you’ accidentally slip out my mouth in a whisper, but for the most part I love seeing other people’s successes and wish them all the best with it. Instead of feeling jealousy of them, I just feel an overwhelming sense of failure for myself.

In the podcast, Lucy Sheridan made a lovely analogy with a well. I feel I’ve been sitting at the bottom of a well for many years, talking to nobody. The council came along and thought they ought to put a lid on the well for everyone’s sake and now it’s completely ignored.
See what I mean? I’m far too busy wallowing in my own self pity to worry about what other people are doing.

Anyway, I did listen to the podcast, and yes, the talk came about being at your beginning, and it apparently won’t be long before I’m up there and other people are comparing themselves to me. So the inevitable tears came; as I knew they would. Because, like, when then? (Maybe when I grow up 😉

But you can’t feel down for long because Lucy Sheridan is so wonderfully positive and upbeat, you’re just left motivated and ready to keep going. Dust yourself off and try something new. The conversation with Sara Tasker deviated to interesting little side-notes like acting on where you set your boundaries; and so it was a good hour-long listen. I really hope Lucy Sheridan does do the business course she mentioned, because I for one would sign up. I hadn’t heard of her before, but now I’m following her on Instagram for daily motivation and I was this close to signing up for her course coming up soon but spent a couple of minutes dithering and must have missed the early bird price by seconds!

In the mean time I’ll keep working and keep waiting for these fourteen years (and however much longer) to become that funny anecdote Sara and Lucy mentioned!

If you haven’t yet listened to Sara Tasker’s podcast, Hashtag Authentic, where have you been? Go on a long journey or clean the house or whatever and catch up!

Linking with Share all link up at Not dressed as Lamb.