song - Nothing’s missing
She hadn’t been unhappy before the conversation.
Tired, maybe. Neutral. Ordinary.
Then she listened to him talk.
New plans. Big momentum. Certainty in his voice. A future that sounded polished and bright, like it had already been edited for success.
She smiled and nodded. Asked the right questions.
But something shifted inside her chest—subtle, sinking.
By the time she walked home, a familiar conclusion had settled in:
I’m behind.
I should have more clarity.
Something’s missing.
She stopped halfway down the block.
Nothing had changed in her actual life.
Her body was still walking.
The air was still cool.
Her plans—if they could be called that—were exactly as they had been an hour earlier.
So where had the lack come from?
She noticed the body carefully.
The feeling wasn’t emptiness.
It was stretch.
Like an elastic band pulled tight between what is and what might be.
Expectation, humming.
Possibility, over-amplified.
She laughed softly.
Nothing was missing at all.
She had simply borrowed someone else’s momentum and tried to wear it as a measuring stick.
The tightness eased.
What returned wasn’t confidence or ambition—just a quiet rightness.
Her life hadn’t shrunk.
It had been briefly eclipsed by someone else’s spotlight.
INVESTIGATION — “What Comparison Actually Does”
This isn’t about stopping comparison.
It’s about seeing what it produces.
1. Notice the moment of comparison
Recall a recent comparison.
Before the thought “I’m lacking”, notice:
a lift in energy
a tightening
a forward pull
a sense of urgency
Ask:
What changed in my body when I listened?
2. Identify expectation, not deficiency
Comparison doesn’t reveal absence.
It introduces expectation.
Ask:
What did I start expecting that I wasn’t expecting before?
Often it’s:
speed
certainty
clarity
achievement
direction
3. Separate inspiration from inflation
Inspiration feels expansive.
Inflation feels pressured.
Ask:
Does this comparison open me—or compress me?
Compression signals borrowed expectations.
4. Look for what’s actually present
Now check:
Are you breathing?
Are you safe?
Is anything required right now?
Ask:
What is concretely missing in this moment?
Often: nothing.
5. The quiet recognition
Comparison doesn’t point to lack.
It points to misalignment between your pace and someone else’s narrative.
When expectation deflates, wholeness returns.
Not improved.
Not upgraded.
Just unobscured.