39 Bloggers Who Were Beat Up By Scarecrows

It’s easy to catch a bad case of blog envy and to wonder why every other blogger gets to be a brand ambassador and take free trips to cool places.

Easy to wonder why KIA, Ford, Hyundai and Honda ask other people to drive and blog about their cars but no one asks you.

If you are not careful it is easy to stare at the posts others write and wonder how someone who is semi-literate gets what you would like to have but you need to ignore it.

There is no upside in comparing yourself to others and wondering or wishing for what isn’t happening now.

Ask my kids and they’ll tell you I have that speech down pat.

39 Bloggers Who Were Beat Up By Scarecrows

Heck, ask my kids if they have ever heard the story of the 39 bloggers who were beat up by scarecrows and they’ll tell you it is one of my goofier stories.

They’ll tell you I used the picture above and told them that spending time comparing ourselves to others is the equivalent of fighting a straw man.

You can pound that sucker as hard as you want for as long as you like and he’ll never give you what you want.

There is no upside or benefit and though you may win the physical contest you’ll lose the mental/emotional and that is where the real prize is.

Life Lessons & Things That Are Important

I wrote Some Things I’ll Teach My Children in 2005 and then updated it in 2010. I meant to

I meant to update in 2015 but neglected to do it so it is probably time for me to get around to it.

When I do I am going to make sure I include teaching them the value of not comparing ourselves to others.

You may say it is hokey and goofy to teach them that we are all shining stars who have our own inner beauty but it is important.

Because when the lights go out and we are alone with our thoughts we have to feel confident in ourselves and our abilities to manage our lives.

Life is too short to wonder and worry about what others have and since we don’t know what happens behind closed doors we can’t say that if someone has more they are happier.

I won’t lie and say I have never compared myself to others or felt frustration and envy because it seemed like they had more.

But I can say I have gotten pretty good at not doing that and if that when I do compare it is usually for the sake of motivating myself to go out and get whatever it is I think I should have.

Might as well use that energy to make something good come out of it.

Looked at the About Me page here to make sure I still like the way it reads and that it tells the right story about me.

Most of it felt fine to me but found a few things I need to tweak because they are not quite right anymore.

Reminded me about how in some ways I am very much the guy I have always been and in others, well I am very different.

Got me thinking about my kids and how I have watched them grow and change. Got me thinking about my plans for the future and my hope that the path I am following will benefit them.

We are all part of a giant story upon whose pages we write each day and though we may have an idea about where it is going we never really know where it ends.

If there were no boundaries in blogging I’d share a story with you about something that happened this year that really illustrates how crazy life can be.

One of those moments that you know is going to have a lasting impact but since we aren’t clairvoyant we can’t see how big and for how long.

I choose to take a positive outlook and to say it is leading to something bigger and brighter. The future is unwritten so there is no reason to freak out.

As someone said to me long ago, there are no tragedies, only funny stories.

Well, that is not true for everything but it is applicable for many.

The Piper Is Calling You To Join Him

If I did share more of the story I can’t I’d tell you that part of what bothers me about it is the push/pull feeling I have about it.

A sense that I missed something I should have noticed and a feeling that it doesn’t matter because I couldn’t have done more than I did.

And intermixed with it all is the feeling that I am on the right path and that I am doing what I need to do to move from the current into the future I want.

Is that because I am listening to Stairway to Heaven and the music is making it easy to hear the piper calling me to join him or something else?

Hell if I know.

What I am certain of is that action is better than inactivity and that while we can’t control it all we can manage ourselves and how we respond.

So I won’t fight the scarecrow.

I don’t fear bloodying my knuckles but if I am going to do it, well I’d like it to give me more than five seconds of satisfaction.

• Saved: Children, Life