Having one's happiness rest in others is where I haven't been so independent in my life. Whether it's being left out of a group of friends in 10th grade and sulking about it for the whole year, or in past long-term relationships where I put so much pressure on the other individual to make me happy, that the relationship went on a downward spiral and was ultimately ruined. Most of my life I have also spent comparing. It makes me sad and ashamed to say that- but I've learned that there is no meaning or competition in being "ahead" or "behind". No sense in comparing material values, who got a better job out of college first, who's had a successful long-term relationship while I'm single, who is flourishing in NYC, while I had to go back home. The race of life is surely a long one. And in the end, the race is only with yourself. 

I'm learning to depend my happiness on myself only. And faith. Faith is a big part of it. Because really, what the hell do I know?