Compared to Others (Life, Homemaking, and Blogging)
When it comes to your life, your home, or perhaps blogging, do you ever feel like the flower you see in the photo above? That flower right there. Come closer...
That flower - that little white daisy there in the middle, hiding among the masses of large, beautiful, vibrant flowers. Sometimes we may feel that our lives aren't perfect enough, our homes aren't fancy enough, or our stories and thoughts aren't interesting enough to inspire others. I know I've felt that way before. Have you?
We may feel like compared to others, our ideas about how to care for or decorate our homes, our projects, our words of wisdom, or our creative endeavors are small, so to speak. "After all," we think, "Who can compare to this...
Or those...
Or these..."
You might think...."I'm nothing at all, nothing beautiful, nothing inspiring, nothing big."
Well, just remember, everyone starts out somewhere...
Whether we are just beginning, starting over, or working from very limited time and means {like me}, we slowly grow over time as we work to make our house a home. Growth may not be visibly dramatic right away - but ultimately the most important kind of growing has nothing to do with our houses or even our talents and hobbies. If we are human havens for our family and friends, it doesn't matter in the least how our furniture is arranged or how crafty we are or how much traffic our blogs receive. Though we all so enjoy reading and writing about fluff, life boils down to our priorities and the people we love. 
If you find yourself lost in a bouquet of comparisons and overwhelmed by thoughts that begin with "I wish I..., If only..., or I'll never be..."
Please know that it's all a matter of perspective.
When we compare ourselves to others, it's easy to forget how beautiful...
...how inspiring...
and how big we are in reality. You'll never be? But you already are!
Everything else, the fluff, will grow and progress and change over time. Enjoy doing what you do to make your home a sweeter place, but while admiring the beauty and inspiration of others, never underestimate your own. ♥
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65 comments:
What a beautiful post and a message I needed to be reminded of today.
Very sweet and much-needed by many folks (me included!). :)
Hands down one of the most inspiring and beautiful posts ever written. SO GLAD YOU'RE MY FRIEND! :-)
XO,
Layla
PS...Still wanna hit the flea market in March? :-)
Thanks. That was really good. I loved that analogy.
Jamee
xoxo
LOVE this post!! Wonderful...
Elise
Soooo....have you been reading my mind today??? I've been thinking a lot about my blog and how I would love for it to grow...but how...is it/will it ever be great??? Thanks for you inspiration today.
Thank you for your beautiful words today.
Sincerely ~ Tricia Anne
Wow, just like Kim said, were you reading my mind!? Great post, thanks for the uplifting message...much needed today.
~judi ;)
I loved this entry! The world of blogging is amazing, but there can be a downside if we are not careful! Yes, there are so many beautiful home decorating blogs, often written by people who have many more resources than we feel we have to make a home beautiful. Our little places can look a little humble in comparison. That's why I like your blog so much, Kim. You inspire us "mere mortals" to work toward real goals!"
How lovely and very inspiring. Thank you Kim! *Smiles*
Absolutely beautiful! I try very hard not to compare myself all the time, but honestly I do feel this way from time to time. I like simple white flowers, and I like me. Thanks for reminding me. Your writing is truly inspirational and I know I will be back to reread this post again.
That was beautiful. I will reread it often. You really have a way with words that touch people.
Cha Cha
You have no idea how much I needed to read this post today.
That is a wonderful message that everyone needs to remember. It's very easy here in Blogland to feel like we don't measure up because there truly are so many amazing and talented women out there. And I know that even the bloggers who have a gazillion followers and appear in print time and time again feel like that sometimes too. But we are all talented and creative in our own way. Everyone is Blogland has something special that she (or he) is contributing.
Thanks from me for that very important reminder.
Karen
My Desert Cottage
what a great post today!!!! I think everyone can relate!!!
Like you I try to inspire and lift up women who may need it on a daily or weekly basis, sweets. I think you've just said it most eloquently, chickee.
xoxo,
Connie
Kim, what a beautiful post! Words and pictures. I so can relate to this. Many times I second guess myself by comparing to others. It is hard not to compare when there are so many amazing and talented women out there! I then come back to each of us...unique in our own way... that is what makes us all special. I need to remind myself of this. Thank you friend...such an uplifting post!
Hugs and love,
Victoria
What a beautiful and inspiring post! Thank you for this. :)
You were talking right to me, weren't you? Thanks...I needed to hear that!
It's like you are reading my mind!! I just entered the blogging world (today, actually) and am already feeling like that little daisy (which just so happens to be my all-time favorite flower! I mean I had them all in my wedding!). Thank you for this wonderful reminder. I am such a huge fan of your blogs, and you inspire me daily!
God Bless!
What a wonderful post and message.
Thank you for thinking this, for writing this, and for sharing this.
Beautiful
This is why YOU inspired ME to begin my blog. This is why I am honored to consider you my friend.
You've expressed what is in my heart. I have read it on blogs and have felt smaller than that daisy... a weed! But I recall a favorite quote: No one can make you feel inferior without your permission. - Eleanor Roosevelt.
If you ever feel like a small little daisy we would be reciting on each petal:.. We love Kim, We know of no one who loves her not, We love Kim ...
- Deborah
Well aren't you a dear for writing this!!
In true blogger fashion, I have too many word to express how much I agree, so I'll just say thanks. :)
Fantastic post! It made me feel great today and I am saving this for my daughter when she starts school and faces the harsh world of 'comparisons'...what a great analogy to share with her about the flowers. Thank you!
*hugs*
catherine s.
What a beautiful post. I feel like that little white daisy:) Thank you for such a wonderful post.
Sandra
Very nice. Well said and lovely to look at.
Just how do you know how I feel. You have hit it. You have inspired me. Thank you. I truly hope you have a wonderful evening tonight.
Lovely, just lovely!
Blessings,
Stacey
Thank you for reminding us of this! Sometimes you can really get lost in this big blog world and caught up in thinking what we're doing or what we have or don't have is not good enough.
By the way, I have loved reading about your home's transformation - especially your red cabinets. :)
Sarah
So true. I used to have poster in my room growing up that said "Be your own kind of beautiful." It was a picture of a vase filled with several red roses, and one lonely white daisy.
Great reminder...and you truely have a way of photographing the beauty of the simplest things!
This was beautiful and so needed! Thank you...you are an inspiration.
~Gay~
itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com
BRAVO! my friend! so well done and said!
That was perfect and much needed! Perspective is so extremely important and it's so easily skewed, especially when I compare myself to others...even people I don't even know!!! Thanks for bringing me back around. ☺ Celeste
I feel like that most every single day. Moreso in blogland sometimes.
Thank you so much for the reminder that we are ALL beautiful!
XO,
Anne
Great post. And so very true.
I really needed to be reminded of that today. Thank you!
What a beautiful post. Thanks for helping us put things in perspective. The photos are beautiful too.
~simply perfect~
Really lovely and well put...I especially love the "human haven" analogy.
Inspiring words, thank you so much! I am guilty of this ALL the time. It's a very hard habit to break, but it helps to hear your encouragment. :)
Hi Kim-
:) :) :) Thats what I am doing right now. You are not only a talented decorator/remodeler/baker, but a wonderful writer, too. You should create a printing of this for all of your friends and readers so that they can frame it. It is such an uplifting post.
That was so very, very beautiful...thank you so much for writing it!
Thank you for writing such a beautiful post! I needed this today! Your blog has always been one of my favorites!
What a great post. Amen to that.
You are awesome Kim!
What a beautiful post... and just what I needed today. It's SO hard to avoid comparing ourselves to others with all the amazing blogs out there.
My very best,
~Angela :-)
I could hug you for this- thanks!!
How wonderfully illustratred, my favourite blog post today. This week. Month. Ever?!
Wonderful post!
Beautiful post!
So beautiful and inspiring... thank you.
I needed that this morning. More than you could know, I needed this post.
Thank you for those words. You had to have been reading my mind today because I soooooo needed to hear it this week.
Blessings,
Lisa
I enjoyed stopping by your blog. The flowers are just so beautiful but I'm a sucker for PINK!
I see you were interested in the postcard exchange. If you want one from Oklahoma, please email me so we can trade cards.
Thank you so much for your gentle reminder to me to be myself. It's something we all need to remember from time to time. I enjoy having people in to visit and it has taken me years to realize that people don't care if there is dust on everything and a thin layer of dog hair on the carpet, as long as the cookies are yummy and the company is fun!
Your Pictures are beautiful as well.
So beautifully put Kim! and what gorgeous pictures too! Thanks for such an uplifting , true and inspiring post!
Hugs, Cynthia
I'm so sorry I missed this post yesterday . . After reading this post, "you make me feel good about myself today", I had a bad day yesterday, I needed some real joy about blogging. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Wow. Thank you for writing this.
Every now and then I look at blog that has "taken off" and think to myself that maybe I should just stop blogging. I enjoy it so much, and I'm doing okay, making friends, gaining followers one by one. . . . It really IS easy to compare myself to others and think "Why bother?" But the "why bother" is because there's only one little daisy exactly like me, and what I have to say may be exactly what someone needs to read one day. Who knows?
This was written beautifully and illustrated magnificently. I appreciate it very much.
What a lovely sentiment that covers all of life not just blogland. At every level and in every corner of life someone wants to be seen as the best. So they try and try harder to be the best fisherman. But you can only improve yourself by trying to do what you do better. But if you don't fish, you don't like to fish, don't want to eat fish. Now you have found yourself competing in something you don't even care about. If what you really want is green grass you either figure out how to fertilize your grass or ask your neighbor how he does it. Most people are thrill to have some ask how to achieve what they have already. Sure it can be a bit about bragging but I can also be about sharing your secrets and working on something together. rather than making it a competition. That was everyone is a winner.
WOW! What a timely post.....I feel like that little daisy...and needed to read this today.....THANK YOU!
That was so wonderful. Not only can I compare that to my jewelry making blog/Etsy store, sometimes I compare that to me being a mother of 3 little ones. Sometimes I feel I don't do enough for them; play, imagine, color, laugh, roll on the floor. Sometimes I feel like a complete failure on any given day, but I promise myself to do better if God blesses me with one more morning. WONDERFUL post! Love your blog and am so happy I can sponsor you! :o)
Cheers~
Amber
wow! you are right on girl! thanks for putting things back into perspective for me. ok i have to go wipe some tears from eyes now. lol
I really needed to read this today, and I love the way you used flowers to make your point. I am the biggest self loather I know...thanks for reminding me I matter :-)
Thank you for the ispiration and the peace that your post has given me for at least the rest of the day. God bless you!
Hollie
Your post was absolutely wonderful!
Amen! So well said. And I loved how you used the flower bouquet as a metaphor for us, because it shows that even though we may be a small flower compared to a big beautiful gerber daisy (and as we shouldn't compare ourselves), all us us together make up a gorgeous bouquet as well. :)
Here's a trick...have eight kids! I think God has a special way of dealing with a stubborn woman...he gives her three boys in a row to raise. I've got two sets. What does that tell you about me? I've learned to let go. I just can't ever do all that I would like to do. So I'm just enjoying the journey. Thanks for sharing your view of the beauty that is all around us.
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