A friend of mine posted something on Facebook a while ago that made me stop and think. I think it’s great to be confident. I think it’s great to have a purpose. And I think it’s awesome to want to spread a message or improve the world. However – I didn’t agree with the way the statement was delivered.

How can you hope to improve the perceptions of others if your approach to helping them grow starts off from a negative, self-absorbed space? I know that I myself am not as open to learning from someone I find to be rude or big-headed. And I’m less likely to think their opinions are as valid because most often – these people are narrow-minded and not open to open-minded discussions. They tend to be “my way or the highway” kind of people. And that’s okay – but I tend to see them as less wise and more just loud, show boating types.

In the past year, a friend of mine and I started a local group for professionals in our field. We did not approach this from a “we’re better than you and gonna help ya’ll see the light” kind of mentality but rather from a place of wanting to learn and grow ourselves and get to know other entrepreneurs in our industry. We’ve create this awesome community of professional photographers who all consider each other friends and colleges rather than competitors, which isn’t exactly common in our over saturated industry. But I truly believe the reason this has worked is because the whole idea of this group came from a good place, a helpful, bring everybody up kind of place.

I don’t know, maybe I’m completely off base. But I could never be that kind of person. The one who tells everyone else how it’s supposed to be or claims to be more enlightened than others. I just feel like I’m not done learning. I’m not done growing or evolving and I can’t imagine claiming to be better than others when I’m not yet the best version of myself.

I have a feeling that I will never actually achieve that version of me until I’ve passed from this world. But isn’t that the point? Isn’t that the whole reason we’re here? To grow and learn and help others do the same along the way? To learn to love and be loved. And to give with an open heart. Because if we stop learning and stop loving others… then what are we doing? Just existing…. Is that even truly living?

So I guess my thought for today is simply that it’s better to be humble and realize that you have a long way to go – no matter where in the game you are in comparison to everyone else. Because really it’s not about that – it’s about you and about constantly working towards the best version of yourself everyday. Whether that’s in your relationships, at work, your health or whatever. The only person you should be comparing yourself to is you…

and are you really better today than you were yesterday. And if not – what do you need to do to get there?