This is something I think I’ve started to write about in many posts, and never actually published. But I think it needs to be said, because I had somewhat of an epiphany about it last night.
Stop comparing your life to everyone else’s.
Of course, in the sense of the blog, I mean your financial life, but this can be stated for a lot of things.
When a lot of finance enthusiasts give this statement, especially Dave Ramsey, there seems to be this idea that, “don’t compare yourself against the person with the BMW because they’re drowning in debt.” Which I don’t think is a productive comparison. It doesn’t take away the urge to compare yourself; it encourages you to put them down to bring yourself up.
If you’re going to compare your financial life to someone else’s, recognize that their financial priorities are just different than yours. And that is okay. It can be hard to stay on your path if you’re watching your peers buy new cars and new phones while you’re just shoving money in savings accounts. But that is seriously the entire gist of it.
Other people have different financial priorities than you do.
This was a huge wake-up call for me last night. Yesterday, the Bee family bought a new Christmas tree. Turns out nice artificial Christmas trees are expensive. While in the store, Eric began looking at all of these outdoor decorations, and I started looking at new stockings and new ornaments and a new tree skirt. We’ve had the same cheap blue ornaments since our first Christmas together 6 years ago, and I’m feeling like getting all new red and gold ones. It’s a new house to decorate, right?
And in my head, I’m thinking of all my friends who have impeccable home decorating style. Whose homes are beautiful and decorated for every holiday and every season. The families with the amazing front yard decorations that encourage people from out of town to drive down their street. Why can’t our house be that way?
Because I have different priorities.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to head out to Pottery Barn and buy all new Christmas decor. I’d love to have a house decorated for Halloween, and Americana stuff out for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. But there’s a long list of things I want more than that: date nights to expensive restaurants, vacations, museum memberships, and retiring in my 40s.
So the next time you start to feel like you want something you see from other people, just consider your financial priorities. It’s okay to adjust them and decide they’ve changed. But one of the most common phrases in my house is, “You can have anything, but you can’t have everything.”
