The Comparison Habit

When we compare ourselves to others, it produces either feelings of superiority or inferiority.  Neither is beneficial to our sense of well-being. 
 
To make it worse, we compare the worst things we know about ourselves to the best things we know about others. We have plenty of opportunity to do this since social media is filled with the highlight reel of people’s lives.  We forget reality.  Life can be messy.  Relationships can be hard.  Pets are adorable but are a lot of work. Product marketing succeeds by convincing us that we will be who we want to be (or better) when we have this product, these clothes, skin care routines, (go ahead and list anything you’ve purchase in the middle of the night….)
 
We can begin to break the comparison habit by:

• Remembering that we aren’t seeing the whole picture on social media and TV
• Realizing that our life is not that different from others (certainly how we react to it can be!)
• Understanding that our worth is determined by our mere presence on this Earth, not by something we have or do not have
• Knowing that your Chapter 1 is going to be different than someone else’s Chapter 20
• Developing a solid sense of self through personal development 
• Using the one you are comparing yourself to as inspiration rather than a measuring stick

 
Gabby Bernstein sums it up nicely “we are all special and none of us are special”.  We are each special in our own right but we are not more special than anyone else.
 
When we understand this, we lose the need to compare and can gain a greater appreciation for ourselves and others.