“Comparison is the thief of all
JOY”
Theodore Roosevelt
By Caroline Bellenger AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF OPENING MY GYM I REALISED THAT WHAT I WAS PASSIONATE ABOUT WAS MUCH MORE THAN JUST PHYSICAL FITNESS AND WEIGHTS PROGRAMS. I WANTED TO HELP WOMEN OVERCOME THEIR DAY TO DAY STRUGGLES IN RELATIONSHIPS, CAREERS, AND MINDSET.
S
o, a usual group fitness class organically turned into a group of women supporting each through life’s challenging moments and my desire to become a Life Coach was realised. I did some research on what I would require becoming a Life Coach and I found two distinct categories. The first included a plethora of ego driven social media coaches proclaiming to have the answers to all your life’s problems in an “easy” seven days. The second category included a group of Guru’s whose reputations, life skills and millions of followers immediately disqualified me from even contemplating such a career change. How could someone as insignificant as me possibly offer anything as worthy as they did? For the next 12 months the desire in me to help other women grew and I took the brave step to start my Life Coaching Business. But deep down with every social media post or award nomination I could not shake that feeling of being an imposter. Even positive feedback from clients, friends and social media followers could not persuade the nagging feeling inside me.
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I had done a lot of self-development work in the years earlier, so it surprised me that I felt so insecure about this choice of career. I started to delve deeper into what was holding me back. I knew it was not a lack of experience as I had plenty of that to share in all areas of life, business, and health. I have always been a cross your T’s and dot your I’s type of person so maybe it was because I did not have a certificate to say I was qualified? Within a few months I got qualified but that only slightly diminished my feelings of imposter. I cannot say exactly when my realisation happened, but when it did, it hit me like a lightening bolt. “Comparison is the thief of all joy” – Theodore Roosevelt. The reality was I knew I could help people but by comparing myself to other life coaches I was letting all those people down. My knowledge, my skill, my experience had the ability to change people’s lives and it did not really matter whether I had a million followers or a seven-day solution. By comparing myself to other people I completely devalued my own worth and ironically that was exactly what
In a world where social media is a way of life it is easy to compare yourself to others, either to value yourself higher based on perceived flaws or to devalue your worth based on apparent success.
