Comparison

Comparison in your life. Comparison as an artist. 

I think human beings in general comparison is something that many people battle with. We compare our lives to others we know, but with social media we now compare ourselves to people we don't know. Why do we compare ourselves to others that we don't even know the first real thing about them? Anyone can take a good picture and post it online. Anyone can show you all the good things in their life and hide the not so glamorous things from you on social media. I mean I think we are all guilty, at least I know I am, of taking a picture and cropping out the clutter that's in the background or using that blemish eraser so make that stress pimple just magically go away. Wouldn't that be nice, to with the press of a button make our not so glamorous, all but aesthetically pleasing parts of our lives disappear. But that's not how it works, and I think we need to be more conscious of how our own perspectives of our lives are altered by this comparison mentality. 

As an artist it's really hard not to compare my work, my skills to others. I can't tell you how many times I have scrolled on pinterest, or instagram and just gotten lost in others profiles looking at their work, their studios, their following and started to feel not good enough, and beginning to question myself. That is a big rabbit hole that can just suck you in and never let you out. I think many artists with potential and talent dissolve because they start to compare themselves and they lose all faith in themselves. But let's be honest. We don't post the sloppy sketches of the final piece, we don't show the repeated mistakes, or redo's of a project. Just the other day I was painting and I had to restart 3 times because I didn't like the way the first two were going, but you wouldn't know that unless I told you. 

I think a good replacement for comparison is celebration. Celebrate for those people who just posted about their brand new studio with great lighting. Celebrate for those people who went on a spontaneous road trip through the mountains, or spent three weeks in Italy. Instead of comparing your what seems to be your boring non-glamorous, anti-aesthetic life, celebrate your little wins. Celebrate the warm coffee you made this morning or the fact that you actually made your bed today. Celebrate the happy accidents, and also the not so happy accidents, because those are what makes you step closer towards your next great adventure, which I promise is coming soon.

Galatians 6:4-5 says, "Each of you must examine your own actions. Then you can be proud of your own accomplishments without comparing yourself to others.  Assume your own responsibility."

If you look at your own actions, and where you have come from and where you want to go, you can see the progress. Be proud of yourself, and your accomplishments. Own how hard you have worked to get this far. When you see others, and start to compare stop and just celebrate for them and then ask yourself if you think they made their bed today, or if they have dirty dishes on the sink, or if they cropped out their clutter in the background. You are only allowed into their lives through a small square picture on a screen that fits in your hand.

Start an exercise with yourself. Write down where you are now, whether that is how you are in school, what stage you are at achieving your goals, or something to help you remind yourself about how you are right at this very moment. Then some time from now, maybe a month, maybe 3 or 6 months, or a year and write another one. Write about how you are at that very moment. Then take out th old list and compare it to the new one. It's kind of like weight loss transformation pictures. It's sometimes hard to see the change when it is in small increments from day to day, but when you sit down and compare yourself to how you were 3 months from now it is going to look different. And still it might not be a huge difference, but that's how growth and recognition of your own worth is made. Maybe three months from now you will be 6 classes closer to graduation. Maybe you will be 12 blog post further into your blog content, or you have one more portfolio project completed.