Early Morning Thoughts About The Seagulls Outside My Window
If I'm being honest, I've been stressing A LOT about writing this blog post. I keep thinking about it being the first one and needing to hook people in and develop my brand... I could go on for hours. All this unnecessary pressure that I'm putting on myself has me scrapping ideas left and right because "they aren't good enough."
Funnily enough, inspiration struck me when I got to my office and took a moment to gaze outside of my window. I've been following the growth of some baby seagulls on the roof next door for the past few weeks, seeing them grow from little white fluffs to gray fluffy almost-birds (SO CUTE!). Today, however, I noticed that only one of them was left; I assume the other had finally learned how to fly and went off to explore and do whatever it is that seagulls do.
As I was watching this other baby seagull that had not yet begun to fly, I felt a deep sense of sadness. It wasn't the seagull itself that made me sad, but my own experiences that came bubbling up in that moment. My journey in life has not always matched that of my peers, and at times I feel like everyone else has already spread their wings and left me behind. I wondered if that little seagull was still learning to fly or if it simply didn't believe in its ability to do so.
Looking out again at my seagull, I saw it gazing off into the distance. Perhaps, instead of comparing itself to other seagulls, my seagull was daydreaming of all of the possibilities that the future holds. Maybe it was busy making observations about the world that will help it on its journey. Or maybe it was silently rooting for its sibling and friends who were already flying, content with knowing that its day would come in due time.
If you'll forgive this long-winded metaphor, comparing our journey to someone else's is a killer, and I know I'm not the only one who gets sucked into this trap. Someone else always seems to be smarter or wealthier or more successful, and we fall into this spiral of thinking that we're the only ones who AREN'T that way, that no one else struggles the way that we ALWAYS seem to be struggling.
Good thing thoughts aren't facts. You don't stop being worthy or incredible or loved just because your journey doesn't look like someone else's. Afterall, a seagull doesn't cease to be a seagull just because it hasn't learned to fly just yet. And just like that baby seagull, you will learn to fly when the time is right.
Be kind to yourself.
<3 Kaite