If you work with teenagers, you know they have a tendency to compare themselves to others. The grades they’re getting, the people they’re dating, the friends they have, the clothes they wear, the highlight reel on their social media–it all feels like one long list of what others have that your students just don’t!
That’s also why we partnered with our friend and Founder of Broken Crayons Still Color, Toni Collier, to talk about comparison in our new series, “Caught Up” for XP3 Middle School and “The Thief of Everything” for XP3 High School. We want to help students discover that comparison not only keeps them from liking others, but also steals things like joy, peace, and grace from their lives.
But, if we are honest, we as leaders are not immune to the trap of comparison. Comparing grades becomes comparing careers, and the highlight reels on social media now include everything from parenting to finances to friendships to even our ministries.
Because of that, we asked Toni to share some of her favorite resources to help us fight comparison and pursue wholeness for ourselves as we lead the next generation.
Toni’s Resources to Fight Comparison
Comparison Trap by Andy and Sandra Stanley
This 4-part study combines the truth about the battle with comparison and Biblical truth to help women grow in wholeness.
Brave Enough to Be Broken: How to Embrace Your Pain and Discover Hope and Healing and the Still Coloring Podcast
Brave Enough to Be Broken is a Biblical roadmap to healing written for people who desire wholeness, but don’t know where to start.
The Still Coloring Podcast is both audio and full videos on YouTube that include interviews with some of the most well-respected leaders about healing, hope, and brokenness. They share vulnerably how healing has looked in their own lives.
Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen
This book breaks down the roots of our negative behaviors and how our minds feed us lies.
The Pause App by John Eldridge
This app is centered around faith-based meditation and can help you reset and rest.
Clean Workout Playlist
Exercise can be really helpful to our mental health, and a fun playlist can make exercising more fun.
Inspirational Instagram Accounts to Follow
Social media is often a place that fosters comparison, but it can also be a place where we engage in inspirational content that helps us pursue health.
Fighting comparison and pursuing healing, hope, and wholeness takes intentionality, but it is worth it for not only our own lives but the students we serve. We are thankful for the work Toni Collier does to help people experience hope and her willingness to share resources she loves.
Toni Collier is the founder of an international women’s ministry called Broken Crayons Still Color, which helps women process through brokenness and get to hope. She is a Speaker, Host, Author of Brave Enough to be Broken, and Consultant who has helped organizations with creative marketing, leadership, student ministry, and strategic planning.
