I’m looking outside the back window of our house this morning as I write. There’s a big, beautiful tree that shades most of this side of the backyard, and when it has all its leaves, the tree creates a sense of serenity. Except one part of the tree.
One part of the tree has a long, yellow rope hanging from it, falling down from way up high in the tree’s massive branches, too high to reach. There’s something about this rope that is off putting. Sure, it stands out against the rest of the tree and hangs there with no purpose other than to dangle in the wind. But it also feels like it symbolizes negativity. It resembles a noose, which I don’t love, but it also looks like a long measuring tape, showing me just how long it is and just how far from the ground it is. And it always reminds me of measuring myself. Just how far off I am from the things I want to achieve.
That’s a lot to take away from a long-forgotten rope hanging in the backyard, but it goes to show, we (humans) will take self-measurements from anywhere. From the people around us, from social media, from television and books, and apparently, even from the inanimate objects placed around us that the voices in our heads use to tell us lies.
What are you measuring, and what’s measuring you?
I hope they are true.
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: Measuring yourself compared to others is no way true way to measure.