I can see clearly now . . .

# Chapter 84

Comparison to others limits your ability to clearly see yourself.

“I am big, but I am not nearly as big as this person was” I have heard my father say so many times after a trip to the grocery store. “I am heavy, but so and so was a whopper!” he is fond of saying. And this morning as he talked non-stop, he had the audacity to complain about the nurses at his regular doctor office visit who “talked like a radio and never shut up”. I had a difficult time explaining to my dad why I was choking with laughter. He has the unique ability to see others in such a way, that his perception of himself is better.

But I don’t think this is a very accurate way to see yourself. And I think that more people than my dad do this. Seeing yourself accurately is a powerful exercise in leadership and in life. If you don’t or can’t, then you will never be able to make the adjustments or hacks in your life to be more. To be your best version of you. To understand yourself in the way that other’s experience you.

Yes there are heavier people than my dad at Walmart, but that is only one reality. In my opinion he needs to focus on fact that he is a short round 200 pound man! At 5 ‘6’ that means he has a BMI of 32.2! This was also my BMI for much of adult life as a 220 pound man. (I am 4 inches taller than my dad) That is an “obese” category on the BMI scale. Those are the facts. The relative size of other people at the grocery store doesn’t make me or you weigh less. It doesn’t make us healthier.

If you must compare, compare up.