staying in our lane

Have you ever noticed that when you start comparing yourself to others, whatever you're doing gets harder?

I was swimming laps in the pool earlier today and noticed two girls get in the lane next to me. Usually I'm not very competitive, but as they started warming up, I started comparing myself.

Are they faster than me? What strokes are they swimming? How strong are they? How are they doing?

And I as started worrying about them and trying to swim faster so that they wouldn't be faster than me, I noticed it got a lot harder for me to make it to the end of the pool. My arms seemed heavy. My legs weren't kicking in their rhythm anymore. I felt like I was gasping for air.

And in that moment, I thought - who cares? Who cares if they're faster than me. Who cares how they're swimming.

And I remembered something I used to teach to my swim students - keep your eyes on the bottom of the pool. But in order to do that, I had to stop paying attention to the other girls in the lane next to me.

So I decided to "stay in my lane." I decided to keep my eyes on the bottom of the pool and let go of the need to compare myself to them. I decided to focus on my breathing, focus on how good it felt to be swimming through the water.

And you know what? It got easier again. With my head tucked looking at the bottom, my body went back to being in a straight line, being in alignment, making it easier to move. I got back to my old slower pace. My breathing got smoother. My arms started really moving again and my kick went back to its old rhythm.

And in that moment, I realized something. Comparing ourselves to others only brings us internal strife. Sure, it's good to push ourselves, but if we can focus on what we're doing instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing, we can save ourselves a lot of heartache. So basically, comparison sucks the fun out of what we’re doing.

So how do we want to drop the comparison today?

I’m letting go of comparison when it comes to the life stage I’m in. Not needing the next thing until it’s time for the next thing. Letting go of my internal timelines and what the rest of you all are doing.

How about you?

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Oh and #tbt to pool days and summer tans circa 2012. Being in the water will always be one of my favorite things.