This weekend I had a rush of nostalgia and got out some very old albums from the 80’s. When I was listening to Howard Jones ‘Equality’, the lyrics held a certain poignancy they didn’t have when I was nine and three quarters. Here they are for you:
Everybody wants to feel happy, even if you think that you don’t
Everyone wants to know the secret, even if you think that you don’t
Everybody thinks they’re different from the next man now
But we just got to realize we’re just the same
Always appear to be someone better
You know there will always appear to be someone worse
You know there’ll always appear to be someone better
You know there’ll always appear to be someone worse, oh
Everyone has got their character
Everyone has got their personality
But the longing is still the same
So what is the answer be easy on yourself
Make yourself feel at ease maybe that’s the answer
Always appear to be someone better
You know there will always appear to be someone worse
Always appear to be someone better
You know there’ll always appear to be someone worse, oh
We’re just the same don’t you know
We’re just the same don’t you know
Looking over there
He looks different, she looks different
They might even be different
But we’re just the same, don’t you know
We’re just the same, don’t you know
We’re just the same
We are all the same. We all have the same challenges and joys, we are all striving for happiness, we are all extremely hard on ourselves. And what is the answer? BE EASY ON YOURSELF. Make yourself feel at ease. Maybe that’s the answer. Yup, I think that might well be the answer. Imagine if you were easy on yourself, made yourself feel at ease, relaxed into life and allowed yourself to enjoy it. Not in competition with anyone, not judging yourself to be worse than someone else. Just you, being easy, living.
Try it. Give yourself the gift of understanding that we’re all the same – no matter how different we look on the outside. And give yourself the gift of being easy on you – you may feel that you need to give yourself a hard time to ‘get shit done’, but all this actually does is undermine you and make you feel bad about yourself. Being easy on yourself will make you feel GOOD about you. Build yourself up, don’t tear yourself down. And there will always appear to be someone better…but they’re just the same!
Love
Donna.x