Aliena nobis, nostra plus aliis placent.
(Publilius Syrus, Sententia 28)

Pron = ah-lee-AY-nah NOH-bees, NOHS-trah ploos AH-lees PLAH-kent.

Others' things please us, and our things please others more.

Comment: This is the Roman version of "the grass is always greener on the other side, with perhaps a little nationalistic pride thrown in (but they like our things more than we like their things).

Several years ago, I had a conversation with a man who told me he envied me. I asked him why. He said: because you are doing the things you want to do. What made this an even more significant comment for me was that I knew that he was very wealthy, and I had often found myself wondering what it would be like to have that kind of wealth--to travel where and whenever I wanted, to make repairs and renovations on my house as I wanted. We had spent 12 years renovating our old house. It took that long not because it was in such horrible repair but because we could not afford (two teachers in Alabama) to do it any quicker. We were raising three small children, both teaching, and I had a massage therapy practice. We were always tired, always short of the money we would have liked to have had, and always in the middle of a project (or four).

The man's comment gave me pause to reflect many times after that day.
I really was doing the things I wanted, just not always as fast, or with the flare that I might have with more money. He and I talked that day about our individual paths, and how they unfold differently for everyone, but that each of us has some basic insights to receive from the path we are on. I know that to be true of my path. I believed it to be true of his. What was puzzling to me, and not really my observation to make about his path was that with his wealth, he was as free as anyone to do what he wanted to do. But, it would mean making changes. And that's where we all face the difficulties and joys of our own paths in very similar ways.

We all face change. We all face change whether we choose to engage our lives and our paths or not. Changes are always--changing.

Thinking that the other's things are better are momentary distractions from the next step. And that all.