Don’t Compare, Just Share

I recently saw someone say they were afraid they would never put something into the world as beautiful as something someone else had done.

If I’m honest about how that line of thinking made me feel, it seemed sad in an echo of not realizing self-potential.

We should never compare ourselves with others in a negative sense.

Is there merit in trying to ascend to certain heights that others have achieved?

Yes.

That’s not an issue. One day you’ll make it to the top of that unconquerable mountain that you’ve always wanted to scale.

This may be an oversimplified take on this subject matter. You’re free to disagree with my stance.

But comparison is not only the thief of joy. It is the creeping killer in the shadows, waiting to force the poison into your well of potential.

We all have our own talents in this world. I am fond of musicians, for example. But I quit being active in the local music scene almost two decades ago. My true path in this world is to write.

I still keep a guitar as a memento and write poetry (and prose) because of my upbringing, but all things in life must move forward. My current station has me interested in the rhythm and melody of the language’s ultimate beauty. The phase has been over for decades—though I keep a little lyricism in my novels as part of the prose.

The path meant for me is the written word, the melodically arranged letters—in resplendent (and sometimes technical) glory.

It is ultimately up to God whether the art side of my writing takes me to new heights. May God’s will be done in my life, and I surrender to that no matter what. Whether yes or no, may the LORD’s name be exalted.

My ultimate point here is that I found my path after trying other ones. And I’m always open to trying things out.

But my natural skill lies within the written word, and I communicate effectively using language on the page.

We should never think that we’ll never put something beautiful into this world. The right thing, made by you, might color someone’s world with a new palette. If you can give someone joy in their walk, make their dreariness less taxing by something you create, that’s amazing.

Look.

We should know our limits.

I certainly can’t write The Lord of the Rings. But I can write a novel by Bryan Rivera-Rivera just fine.

What is it in yourself that is untapped potential? How can you offer that to the world and hopefully monetize it?

I’m not concerned with what someone else built with their talents, because I have my own voice and perspectives.

I don’t envy other people, seeing as God is the one who blesses us with the things we should hold in our hands with gratitude.

Plus, someone else will not take the blessings meant for you alone, so why worry about what they do or how they do it?

You might not write the next big craze. But you have the skill within yourself to write (paint, sing, cook, etc.) something only you can make.

If you stay true to yourself, work hard at what you’re gifted at, and offer others something they didn’t have or see before, you’ve done something only you can do.

Fear of what others will think often stops us, too, if we’re thinking things through. You can’t make something that you’re afraid won’t be as good as someone else’s work if you don’t do the work. Look inward, find the potential, and execute.

But that doesn’t matter either. I mean, if you’re writing some form of erotica or something, you might get a side-eyed glance, but you do you.

I’m sarcastic and coy with my writing process sometimes because I like to mess with people in certain ways (You can’t please everyone, so do it [whatever “it” is] anyway.)

I had someone say I “used to be an author” due to some delays in recent works.

This post is over six hundred words long in less than fifteen minutes, and I write on here often, so something tells me I make time to write almost every day for years on end, even if some of these posts are scheduled. Not to mention, even one novel makes you one?!

The key, as they say, is to do what you’re going to do anyway, and to hell with someone’s opinion of it.

That’s how you deal with critics or “haters.” You do it anyway and chuckle that they have nothing better to do with their time.

If God gave me the gift, I would not waste it by staying static—though I also will not make myself any higher than I ought to in my mind either.

Don’t compare your prior work with someone else’s fiftieth composition. All things in balance.

We’ve all got to start somewhere.

But stop the comparison or the fear of what others think. Both of those are undignified killers of things that never start.

You have something gorgeous to share with the world.

Your tree might not be a pine, but it could definitely bear much fruit.

Blessings and shalom to you.