Years ago my daughter, Addie, was in a pageant. This was a great feat for this wonderful girl, an event that helped her grow into the woman she is today. She described her experience this way: “Being in the pageant world it’s so easy to compare yourself to others because you’re all doing the same thing and the judges’ whole purpose is to compare yourself against the others. So, I always looked for ways to compliment the other contestants. It helped a ton! I literally stopped feeling threatened and was happy to be there.” Addie turned the feelings and thoughts of comparison into compassion by complimenting the other contestants. This not only boosted their confidence, but did the same for herself as well. In his book, Present Perfect , Pavel G. Somov says, “When you compare yourself to somebody else, you are comparing yourself to not-you…For you to score like they do, look like they do, earn like they do, talk like they do, be like they are, you’d have...
