Comparing Yourself to Others Will Be the Death of You.

When you look into the mirror, do you see yourself or a mixture of external expectations and highly imposed standards?

How often do we diminish our self-worth, squander promising chances to fit in within the crowd? We are eager to overspend on labels we don’t even find comfortable. We restrain urges so that others would regard us highly in their appraisal.

Is the lifestyle of somebody else worth our discomfort?

The practice of comparing yourself to others is extremely unhealthy. The habit many people tend to cultivate daily.

What is worse, we promote this habit among ourselves. We enhance judgments. We praise competitiveness. We elevate our superficial self-esteem by diminishing confidence of others.

It imposes a set of self-destructive limitations, leaving us feeling average, thus making it harder to recognize our true potential.

You will not be able to consequently follow your dreams if you get sidetracked by the accomplishments of others. You will not reach your goals when devoting all your energy into pursuing someone else’s visions.

“Comparison is the death of joy.”

― Mark Twain

Comparing yourself to others will be the death of your true nature, this raw part of yourself that you knew so well as a child, or in a moment of pure bliss and joy. The part of you that is vulnerable but confident in its own being and its purpose on Earth.

We have been conditioned to care.

We have unconsciously programmed our minds trying to fit into some whimsical standards of people we do not even like or admire in the first place. We blindly comply with societal expectations, hoping their fulfilment bring us happiness and satisfaction.

Yet, we became so familiar with accessing ourselves through the achievements of others, it became a routine. We are running on autopilot whenever we dive into the world of social media or television, where we usually become unconscious of our observations. Numbly scrolling through posts, videos we give in to the influence of everything we stumble upon the way. We are not even remotely aware of how much effect social media exert on us.

If we continue to believe we are as average as we feel because of Instagram’s illusion, our actions will become average as well.

The power of intentions

Your thoughts create your beliefs. Consequently, your expectations create your life. They constitute the essence of who you are. Thereafter, this quality is translated upon everything you participate in, everyone you interact with.

You have been given this life for a reason.

You have met these particular circumstances, and you have already been given the right tools to cope with them.

Comparison hinders your growth. Comparison stems from lack. Lack means suffering, chasing after the illusion as you are convinced that achieving the goal will make you feel better.

Jealousy, pride, being judgmental are negative states we hold ourselves captive within. All negative emotions stem from fear. We are afraid of being forgotten, mistreated, abandoned. Fear is a response to the need for survival. It is natural. The ego is primarily driven by fear in order to strengthen our system of self-worth.

A man’s mission in life is to work every single day on bettering himself. No one is going to step in and do it for you. It is only up to you to make the most of your resources, skills, abilities and external circumstances.

Our most outstanding accomplishment in this lifetime can be a step towards accepting ourselves for who we are. By acknowledging our fears, hopes and dreams, we get to recognize our failures as a milestone to growth and becoming skilled at being us.

Utilize your superpower.

We have so recklessly programmed our minds in search of challenges and obstacles that we have forgotten the obvious approach: focusing our attention on the positive. It sounds like a cliché, but for a reason.

Does comparison bring clarity? Does anxiety boost your performance? Does it promote your health and stamina? Then why pursuing it?

There is no point in musing over the behaviour of others. We all know it is impossible to control people, external events or conditions. However, I am deeply convinced that many circumstances fall into our jurisdiction. We can influence our dominant thoughts. We get to exercise our subconscious into applying positive, constructive patterns. It takes effort, discipline, tantrums, disappointment and even doubts.

Can you create meaningful life experiences when you squander your energy on pinpointing what you lack while others are enjoying what they already have? It all boils down to recognizing and practising what serves us not. Let’s be mindful of the magnitude of our potential.

Instead of giving away your time and energy by comparing yourself to others and focusing on lack, get to know your needs and desires but most of all, your capabilities and strengths propelling your growth.

There are so many possibilities in our lives. We create. We exchange ideas. We grow. We fail and we learn. We master.

You have so many undiscovered talents.

You can write.

You can read and become inspired.

You get to dance.

You get to travel around the world.

You can make somebody laugh.

You can cook and fail with recipes only to experiment with them later on.

You can create meaningful conversations.

You get to choose.

So many people are not able to do half of the things listed above, and chances are that you can, but still are not using your full potential. As we master our reactions to external factors we get to have an immense influence on creating the life of your dream.

Observe. Get inspired. Take that meeting. Approach every task with curiosity and experiment.

You are never the problem. The issue lies in your perception of yourself.

Create new world, new conditions.

Do not focus on the lack or the inconvenience. Because there is none.

Life will always provide you with the equivalent of emotions present in you. If you are constantly jealous of the pursuits of others, life will gather around more things you get to be jealous about. If you are busy with being petty, you will become the full embodiment of it eventually. Like attracts like.

Once you get curious about the world, this world will show its possibilities to you. Once you notice your possibilities, you will attract endless ways to make use of them.