We’re all guilty of comparing ourselves to others at times. But it’s a dangerous game that often has us comparing our worst selves to our best.
We compare our current jobs to our previous ones, compare our friends to those who are successful and compare our relationships to the perfect ones depicted in books and movies.
Comparing ourselves to others is a natural and frequent part of human behavior. The problem arises when we get caught up in the never-ending pursuit of self-improvement.
Obsessing over our flaws and wishing we were someone else can be unending and exhausting. But there’s a much more productive way to compare ourselves to others.
Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, we should ask ourselves what we have. We should measure ourselves against our own standards and expectations and not against the standards of others.
The following are a few good reasons we need to stop comparing ourselves to others.
We’re All Just Different!
We’re all unique and different in our own special ways. Nobody else will fit into our lives and fill the roles we want them to.
We’re going to love and hate certain people, things, and experiences simultaneously. We all make mistakes, have blind spots, and have strengths that we will have to learn to appreciate and live with. The only way to eliminate the comparison game is to accept that we’re all different and nothing else.
We’ll Never Be Happy With The Results We Get!
We’re probably all guilty of setting unreasonable expectations for ourselves. We want to achieve the best results possible in our work and personal lives.
But the fact is that we will be unhappy with our results. Nobody is going to be perfect, and everybody makes mistakes.
We can’t expect to have a great relationship with our boss or get the promotion we want if we’re only looking at the results. We have to look at the process as well as the results.
We’ll Always Suffer From Comparisonitis.
We’ll never be able to get over our need to compare ourselves to others. We’ll always be plagued by comparisonitis.
The only way to get rid of it is to accept that we’re all different and nobody else will be as good as we want them to be or as bad as we want them to be.
We have to accept that we’re good enough the way we are and that we’ll make mistakes and learn from them. We also have to accept that we’ll never be perfect, and we won’t fiddle our way to happiness.
We’ll Always Fumble Through Life Without Knowing What To Do.
We’ll never be able to plan a smooth, consistent and productive path through life. We’ll always be fumbling through life without knowing what to do next.
We have to remember that we’re all going to make mistakes, and we’re all going to get it wrong sometimes. We have to remember to be patient with ourselves and give ourselves grace.
We shouldn’t compare ourselves to others who seem to know what they’re doing because we’ll never be like that. We should try to learn from everybody and everything we do, but we should never try to be anybody else.
Conclusion
The only person you should compare yourself to is you. You should never make yourself a slave to the comparisons of others because you’ll never be happy with the results, and you’ll always suffer from comparisonitis.
In the end, it’s important to remember that comparison is the thief of joy. It takes away our focus from what we have and who we are.
We can get so wrapped up in comparing ourselves to others that we forget to live in the present and enjoy our own lives.
When you fall down the rabbit hole of comparison, remember these wise words from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Comparison is the death of joy.” Let’s talk about it. What do you think?