Have you been picking up on the inspo from my recent posts (on here and on Instagram)?! I go between feeling so inspired and filled with God’s grace, and feeling like things I do don’t really make a difference… But then one of you lovely humans sends me a thoughtful message or leaves such a genuinely loving comment, and it re-centers me. I started this blog to write and share my thoughts with the world, and it means the world when my words can strike a chord with you. The world is huge, but it’s nice to know there are some kindred hearts out there! On the topic of the world feeling so big and cavernous, I’m sharing a few reminders about finding your worth in a world that’s so full of comparison.
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1. The world is big, but that doesn’t make you any smaller.
The world can feel overwhelmingly huge, but isn’t it also awesome that there’s already enough room for all of us in it?! Someone else’s success doesn’t take away from your own, unless you let it. Be your own flower and keep blooming, regardless of what everyone around you is doing.
2. Worth comes from within.
This is probably the hardest reminder for me, because I seek out reminders of my worth from outside. But when you’re feeling down on yourself, you know what it’s like when compliments from others don’t make a difference because they all sound fake and fleeting from our place of darkness. You have to have stake in the fact that you are awesome, in order to believe it. It’s difficult to be firm in that place of self-worth, and it takes constant practice.
Self-efficacy is one of my new favorite words, look it up 😉
3. Comparison steals joy.
I actually wrote a post about this last year, very early on in the life of KristenShane.com.
It’s hard for me to think of an exactly where comparing ourselves to others can truly bring honest joy. Negative comparison is a trap we often slip into without meaning to or realizing it, and it’s also hard to get out of. We do not become any less in those moments of comparison, it’s simply our own negative thoughts that are making us feel worse, but actually, we’re doing just as well as we were before we decided to think less of ourselves.
4. You were made for more than the things of this world.
I don’t want to be a Christian that quotes random lines from the Bible and runs (but I always recommend digging deeper into verses you do like to read the whole story/context of them), but two verses/Biblical stories immediately came to mind on this topic. Colossians 3 talks of the ‘New Life in Christ’. I particularly like verses 1-4, which read:
1So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Many references to these verses include verse 2 and nothing else, but I like the whole passage.
In Christ, our lives are revealed.
Not ‘in Instagram likes, our lives are revealed’, or ‘in GPA/test score/relationship status/*insert other ‘status’ thing here* are lives are revealed.
It’s easy to look to the things we can see, but there is much greater power in the God we cannot physically see.
I also want to include Matthew 6:30-34, which was recently read a church, and it’s just as striking to me now as when I heard it then:
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Honestly, I think this verse is borderline-comical for how silly it makes our lack-of-faith in God seem! Do we not know that God created this entire universe, and that He already cares for us, day in and day out?! I know I’m all too quick to lose faith and trust in our Almighty Father, who’s literally holding our entire world. (Also, I need the verse 34 reminder nearly every day!)
5. You become what you surround yourself with.
Maybe not exactly, but your environment has great effects on you and who you are. I’m sure you can think of a time you started saying a phrase you picked up from a close friend, or realized your style mirrors that of your sister/best friend/friend group. We like to fit in with what’s around us.
My take on this stems from who I follow on social media and YouTube. The more I spend time looking to Instagram-perfect-models and flawless-beauty-gurus, the more I momentarily lose meaning in who I am as a Christian college blogger. I know you’ve heard me talk about this before, but I think it’s so important to have a meaning and message beyond just the pretty outside-things social media highlights. Which is exactly why I like being so open and honest on my own Instagram, and why I seek out other Christian bloggers and YouTubers to follow, as additional reminders of that greater purpose.
I’ve recently started following and watching Milena Ciciotti and Emily Wilson, and I’d highly recommend them to any fellow Christian ladies who are looking for a little more inspo in their feed. Following people who are open about their faith inspires me to keep doing the same.
I also make it a priority to listen to Christian music, especially when I need that constant reminder. I just wrote a post with some of my recent favorite Christian worship songs if you haven’t given that a read already 🙂
I hope this post could be a little reminder of your worth and just how awesome you are. Be sure to follow me on Instagram for daily updates and posts!
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