Ignoring my wins and fixating on my struggles

How to ensure a joyless existence in two easy steps: introducing the Comparison Game!

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I’ve got this friend. She’s good at almost everything — she’s adorable, unfairly good at yoga, is principled, disciplined, hilarious, she dresses super cute (like, can pull off tone-on-tone winter whites), and generally has her act together. I openly covet her whole thing; you’d agree she’s impressive.

This girl (Lady? Woman? Ew, can we just be 50-year-old girls?) is bad at maybe five things. Five dumb, unimportant things. Like “can’t keep a sourdough starter alive” and “is average at flower decorating.” Maybe toss in a “sometimes I can’t stay out very late.”

But what does she talk about most frequently? What does she think are her defining traits? Her small handful of inconsequential weaknesses. On and on, excoriating herself, making herself the butt of jokes, calling herself a loser and lamenting how unfavorably she compares to her friends who *do* excel at those things.

It’s clear she spends zero minutes appreciating the many categories in which she is enviably amazing.

Drives me bonkers.

If I looked like her, I think to myself, if I had her life, if I could choose her particular set of strengths…