What's up guys? I'm Jared Lopes and you're listening to the Dad Tired

podcast where I'm helping everyday families learn how to follow Jesus and

everyday life.

So there's this quote by Theodore Roosevelt that says,

comparison is the thief of all joy.

I'm not sure what context he had said that in,

but it's a phrase, it's this quote that I've been reminding myself of quite a bit lately.

It's also a quote that my wife seems to be robbing, or robbing, she's not robbing anything,

reminding myself, reminding me of in the last few weeks.

Dude, I struggled deeply with comparison and it,

I resonate with the words of Theodore Roosevelt when he says that it is the thief or the killer what does he say exactly he says it's the thief of joy comparison is a thief of joy and man I resonate with that deeply I compare myself to others often and it

steals my joy man if I'm just totally honest with you it is a thief of my joy and sometimes my day can ride my ups and my ups and

up and downs completely rely on how much I'm comparing myself to other people.

In fact, there are times where I feel like I'm comparing well and so I have like this fake

or un what's the word I'm looking for it's like a it's a cheap joy it's a cheap

satisfaction because it's not rooted in anything deep except some thought in my own mind that I'm doing okay, either compared to how I was six

months ago or five years ago or whatever, or I'm comparing myself to somebody else or something else and so I might convince myself

like I say in a kind of a in a cheap way that I'm doing okay and my joy will rise

and my mood will change and then something will shift that, something will

tweak that and all of a sudden I'll feel either shame or like I'm not doing very well either

compared to my own standards or somebody else's standards or what I see how I see other people living life and the things that they have or the way that they are and and my mood tanks or my joy tanks and it's just such a it's a it's kind of a roller coaster

these aren't like high and I'm not like depressed and then up and down but it's just like these subtle

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