4 Ways to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Happy Monday Loves! Have you ever compared yourself or your life to someone else's? Within the past couple weeks I caught myself doing that more and more often. It would start off with a very small comparison and next thing I knew that small thought  had birthed a full fledged competition within me. It sounds crazy but the more I talked to people about it, it seemed like that was something a lot of people struggle with.

Find Joy in the Journey

Hey loves, Happy Tuesday! This weekend I had the privilege and honor of being a camp leader to some phenomenal ladies within our youth ministry. This was my third year at camp and it was by far the most amazing experience I have ever had.

It wouldn't be camp if we didn't have a friendly competition going on right? We were separated into team colors and our team color was Black. Our Black Team leaders went all out and bought black war paint and we made black tutu's with our girls, we were ready to lead our team to victory. Now, I would be lying if I said we dominated from the very beginning, we had a pretty rocky start. Saturday we came together as a team and decided that we were going to win this competition. It was definitely a lot of hard work, I mean it was crucial, we had girls burning their hands in scorching hot sand, running up and down crazy steep hills, getting dirty and wet, it was definitely a journey to say the least. But come Saturday night when they announced the winner guess who came in first???? BLLLAACCCKK SQUUUADDD.  You see it was a very hard and tiring journey but that journey lead us to victory. 

I looked up the definition of Journey and it means to travel from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time, it also means to progress from one stage to another.  This camp experience made me realize that we are all on a journey. Some, not as easy as others. Due to me being unemployed my husband and I have been on a financial journey. I would be lying if I said it hasn't been hard and very frustrating at times. I remember one instance in particular where I felt so frustrated and tired of being on this crazy ride. We were at the market looking for groceries to get us through the week but we had to make sure we wouldn't break the bank so we loaded up on tons of Top Ramen noodles. It may seem petty and small but it was a very humbling experience for the both of us.  I remember telling my husband to, "Soak it all in and think of it as us being on an adventure, this is just a place we are passing through".  Often times we get so caught up in our circumstances and we don't stop to embrace the struggles that we are going through, we just go through the motions. You have to change your mindset and decide that you are going to win this battle and come out of it victorious.

Today, I challenge you to find joy in YOUR journey. You may be going through something really tough right now and you feel like you're not going to make it but I'm here telling you YOU WILL MAKE IT & their is beauty in your journey. Make the decision to persevere through it. Find the beauty and the lesson in this journey and use it to encourage others.  You are going to come out of this stronger than ever. Remember every great adventure or journey has a beginning and an epic ending. Keep pushing forward until you reach victory.

XO - Mel

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Self-Confidence is Beauty

Hey loves! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful sunny Tuesday! Oh and happy July!!! It's officially Summer so bring on the beach, bonfires and crazy tan lines. I wish I could say that I have an exciting summer vacation planned but I don't haha. But I can tell you that EVE will be launching a pretty awesome campaign soon so stay tuned because you totally don't want to miss out!

One thing I absolutely love is quality time with my husband. So, this weekend we went to the mall just to hang out, walk around and enjoy the day together. While we were window shopping I spotted this super cute pair of round frame sunnies. I just had to try them on! I yanked them off the rack, slapped them on my face and looked at my husband for approval. He gave me that "eghh" look, you know that look that someone gives you when they really don't want to hurt your feelings and tell you how they really feel, yeah that look. I totally got the hint and placed them back on the rack and we started to walk out of the store. It's crazy because something so small like a pair of sun glasses actually made me realize something kind of huge. I started to realize that I often allow peoples reactions or opinions to influence a lot of my decisions (in particular, my style). Sometimes I won't buy something I really like because i'm afraid of what someone might say about it. I noticed that sometimes I don't embrace my unique style because I look for validation in others. I buy a lot of really cute things but I never end up wearing it because i'm fearful of other peoples opinions. As we walked out of the store my husband looked at me and he could totally tell I was in deep thought about something and he said to me "If you like it then rock it!". This is something that I constantly tell others but I never applied it to my own life. Immediately, I turned around and headed back into the store and I bought those glasses! I wore them the next day and got a lot of compliments, but along with those compliments came statements like "Aw those are so cute I wish I could wear something like that!" or " I could never pull that off". In my head I was thinking why cant you? I was totally guilty of also having these thoughts and I started to realize that I wasn't the only one who struggled with self confidence. Everyone is different and unique in their own ways. Think about it, how boring would it be if everyone had the same interests or the same style? Be different, be unique, and don't worry about what people will say because there will always be critics in your life.


Today I challenge you to step into your new found confidence and find someway to represent your uniqueness. Whether that is wearing something in your closet that you've never worn before or __________ (you fill in the blank). Whatever it is I encourage you to be yourself and don't look to anyone else for validation. Self confidence is the most attractive quality a person can posses so you better ROCK IT & OWN IT!!!

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog and stay connected with me on Facebook (Melissa Dorn), Instagram (@meldanielle), Twitter (@meldanielledorn) & even Pinterest! Have a beautiful day loves!

XO- Mel