Pride vs Vanity

The loveliest part of my work space came courtesy of a friend and co-worker: a printed set of quotes from one of my favorite books, Pride and Prejudice. Recently, I have found myself thinking about one of these in particular:

I found this print on Etsy. You can buy it here. 

It is a fine balance. We should all feel pride in who we are, how we work, even how we look. Why would we pursue particular paths if we didn't feel pride in what we were doing? But I find it difficult, even in my thirties, to not compare myself to others, and that is where vanity comes in.

Our home is a modest 1961 multi-level house. I am quite comfortable here, my children all have their own room, and we have a nice big yard with plenty of room to play. But the bedrooms are all small, there isn't a lot of storage, and the main bathroom doesn't have a plug in. I can honestly say none of these things bother me until I see it through someone else's eyes. I don't want a bigger home—I can barely manage to clean what we have—and I love our space. But when I think other people are missing its charm, I feel sad. It shouldn't matter, but it does.

Celebrating the lovely things in my life means that I have to accept that everyone will not share my definition of lovely, but that doesn't make my definition less worthy. Thirty-five years old, and still so much to work on...

A LOVELY MOMENT FROM TODAY: Happy hour with my love, talking about painting and writing. What a perfect way to start the weekend!