Pride

If comparison is the thief of joy, then jealousy is the underside of pride.

Easier to be envious of what someone accomplished, than it is to be proud of them.

And we save our pride for the big things, for the mountaintops, when what we all want to hear is pride in the small wins, the victories no one notices.

That we got up this morning.

Took care of ourselves today.

Managed to punch in and out on a day when all we want to do is pack it all in and run away.

We save our pride, doling it out when we feel like its object is somehow less than us, on a lower plateau, reaching down instead of lifting up.