A member of Pure Health and I were talking the other day and afterward I asked her to write this up because it hit the nail on the head:

You hear it all the time, “the only person you should compete against is yourself,” and yet it’s still such a novel idea. In a world where our ability to “keep up with the Jones’” is as simple as maintaining and manicuring our social media profiles, the idea of tossing what everyone else thinks out the window seems a little daunting. Equally intimidating is removing yourself from competition with your peers. Sure, you can let a slightly bigger fish in your pond challenge you, but ultimately it’s your personal journey to improvement. No one can give it to you, but no one can take it away, either. But people will try. People will offer you backhanded compliments, say things like “Oh…