Keeping Up With The...

I shared a control room row with directors, some not that much older than I, and I wondered why I hadn't made it that far yet.

I watched co-workers be hired away, and I wondered why no one ever came looking for me.

I saw friends get more interviews and more offers, and I wondered why I was still sitting at home sending resumes.

I watched other parents plan fancy parties, and interesting activities, and weeks of summer camp, and I wondered if I was doing enough for my kids.

I exercised next to people pedaling faster and wearing their gym clothes better, and I wondered if I would ever feel as strong, as fit, as thin.

Sometimes, it feels as though life is all about "keeping up with"--with the proverbial Joneses, with our colleagues, with our friends, or simply with our picture of who we'd like to be. But looking around doesn't always help us keep up--it just makes us lose our direction. Watching too much doesn't always help us reach anything--it just narrows our view. We can try to keep up, but in a world where there will always be faster, stronger, more successful, it won't be easy. So, instead of keeping up with, we might as well just keep running for--running for what is right for us, when it is right for us, in ways that make sense for us. So that when we try to keep up, doing so doesn't just bring us down.