beginning again, again

“Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.” John Acuff *

Oh, that damn middle. Soft and fluffy like OREO filling, but so much less yummy. OH wait - we aren't talking about MY middle ... it's my middle that I so often compare to others and am found wanting.

And so I begin again. Another plan. Another hope. Another attempt to train my body to be what it seldom has been - strong, lean, satisfying.

It's not that different from my writing. Or anything else I undertake. I start great guns. I study and gather intel and hope and plan. I leap in headfirst. Then I swim to the edge. Sit awhile. Find my towel. Wander off to a quiet corner to read.

There isn't 'a time' - there is a habit. Yet another mental habit that doesn't serve me. I can hardly be in a room and not rank myself against the others there - fatter than those 5, younger than those 2, more intelligent than him for sure. More talented than that other one by half.

It's tiresome, and only serves to keep me separate and disconnected.

Speaking of middles, whenever I think of mine, I also think of this happy song ... and at least that makes me smile, if my middle doesn't. ;-) Enjoy:


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* Prompt from Write on Edge, RemembeRED meme:


At home, our writing is crisp and emotional and slightly witty.

At home, we have lost at least two of those last five pounds and can make it through a workout without gasping for air.

But when we look around, mentally judging ourselves against better writers, faster runners, and people better at us at our passions, it can be difficult to measure our successes against our own goals.

Jon Acuff recently urged a room of writers, photographers, and entreupreneurs: “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”

This week we’d like you to write about a time you found yourself comparing yourself, unfavorably, with someone else.  Focus on how the comparison affected you, negatively or positively.