I wish I never quit guitar.

That’s what I was thinking about this morning when I changed lanes into a faster one. I promise you, it wasn’t completely random. The car that was in front of me in the slower lane had a Guitar Center bumper sticker on it which made me reminisce about the few months in middle school where I took guitar lessons there.

I became so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that the faster lane was taking me completely off my morning route to work until it was too late. The guitar besting me once again years after I put it down.

Don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely no time nor any desire to try and pick it up again in this season of my life. Maybe one day, but that’s another conversation.

I just wish that the thirteen-year-old me didn’t stop after a few months all because someone else picked it up a lot faster than I ever could.

I have a bad habit of not wanting to do something anymore because someone else was doing it. And doing it better than me. Quitting guitar wasn’t the first time I did it and although I wish I could say it was my last, we both know it wasn’t. I just told you about how I accidentally took the wrong exit just because I thought it was going to be faster. (SIDE NOTE: It wasn’t).

That’s the thing about comparison. It makes us feel like if we’re not keeping up with everyone else, we must be doing something wrong. We must not be any good.

Okay, so everyone changes lanes on the freeway I’m not the only one. And maybe, you didn’t quit guitar because someone else was good at it, but chances are you’re probably guilty of beating yourself up in some way, shape, or form because that’s what comparison does. That’s what we do.

Maybe your childhood friend just got engaged and you just got done complaining about how you struggle to get past the first date.

Or maybe, you’re still at the entry-level job you’ve been at for years while your other friends are being handed promotion after promotion in the career of their dreams.

Maybe your friends are living their “best life” and you’re stuck feeling…Well, stuck!

Let me tell you what I wish I could tell that thirteen-year-old girl:

Don’t change lanes just because you’re not moving fast as everyone else. Someday it might take you off course from where you want to go.

It’s okay to not be the best at something.

It’s okay to not get it right away – whatever IT is.

It’s okay that it takes a little bit longer, you’ll get there.

Other people’s timelines don’t intersect to cut you off in yours, they run parallel – which means their timeline doesn’t change yours and yours doesn’t change theirs.

Let’s stop comparing and do our best in whatever we want to do, no matter how long it takes for us to get there.