Truth be told, I love reading blogs. I love seeing what other people are up to and getting a peek into their lives. I also enjoy just talking to people (IRL, oh my) and hearing how they’re feeling, how they’re livin — you know, seeing how the other 99.999etc% lives.

That said, this also runs anyone at risk for the comparison game. Man, so-no-so ran 8 miles this morning, made a delicious veggie omelette, tweeted really fascinating articles all day while at work, also went to a workout class at night, roasted the shit out of that chicken and brussel sprouts dinner, aaand had time to blog about it — all with a smile on his/her face.

Damnit.

Whether or not this is actually what went down in real life (that’s the tricky thing about blogging, you can disclose how little or much information as you want to) is what can lead to comparison. Sometimes I find myself eating a dinner of scrambled eggs and a veggie burger at 10pm (mealofchampions) and finishing off an $8 bottle of Cabernet opened up a week ago (yikes) and wondering why I’m exhausted from a 5 mile run that happened nearly 15 hours earlier. Any why I don’t have the energy to write, or maybe even foam roll, or come up with something a little more exciting to eat than what’s in front of me.

Which is why you have to step back. Your health and happiness is the most personal thing in the world because well…it’s your self. For those go-getters who can pack in a ton in the day, stick to a challenging training cycle, work, cook, and capture their life online, that’s awesome. And inspiring. But that doesn’t mean you are lacking something if you don’t follow suit.

Training for this marathon is one of the most rewarding, yet exhausting things I’ve done. And while I catch myself saying “the mileage isn’t even that crazy compared to other people’s” I need to stop myself. 40ish miles a week is a lot…for me. Waking up at 6am to work out and then working till nearly 8pm (give or take) a night is also a lot. If I can cook for myself three times a week, I call that an accomplishment. If I can avoid finishing a bag of tortilla chips in two days as an after dinner “shit-im-marathon-training-and-my-appetite-is-insatiable,” then cuuuuue the fireworks.

And regardless of what other people are doing, you can still do “everything right” and not feel your best. You can floss three times a day and get a cavity. Eat super healthy and not have six-pack abs. Work out five days a week and have your energy levels drop, not rise. Take Vitamin D, meditate, drink eight classes of water a day, smile more, down-dog, drink kale and ginger juice, and volunteer once a week, and still feel like crap every now and then.

And that’s because “perfection” in and of itself is never attainable. But knowing that being and feeling imperfect is okay, and figuring out what life you can lead to feel your happiest and healthiest while recognizing that every day isn’t going to be great — then, in my mind, that’s just about perfect.