A Life full of Comparisons
Are your life choices a result of comparison?
There is hardly any time that we are giving for ourselves. It may sound silly but try to give it a thought. Most of the time we are busy thinking about the lives of people around us. We are busy comparing our lives to our friends, relatives, and colleagues.
We Compare All The Time
Let us talk about some of the daily life events to make you understand this hidden factor that has been dictating your life all throughout.
Take, for instance, the process you follow for buying a new mobile phone. There are some of us who take this decision after thorough research and understanding. But there is a section of people that will decide based on what phone others have. Which phone your colleague/friend/relative is using? We go for things like the price tag but not for the things which really matter like the comfort, budget, specs, etc.
Consider another case regarding career choices: A student is busy thinking that his friend has opted for example X as a career option, so even I should go for it. But we hardly give ourselves time to think and analyze our life that do we really want that type of career. Will I enjoy being in that profession? Will it give me happiness and satisfaction? We hardly care for such things in life. Even here we go for the paycheck and not for the satisfaction and the happiness that the profession is going to offer you.
Like this, I can go on and on but still, I won’t be able to finish. Each one of us will surely have such examples to share. This endless cycle of comparison is everywhere and everyone does it. Whether you buy clothes, shoes, choose your career, decide on a trip, plan for a party, etc. we compare and then come to any conclusion. My suggestion to you is to just change your perspective and look for what you really want? Put yourself first and then try to ask yourself, whether this decision will make me happy or not? Will it affect people around me.
I still compare myself to people around me all the time, but my perspective and attitude towards it is completely different from where I began.
Give It A Thought
By now you must have noticed that in any decision you make in your life, there is always a factor of comparison that clouds your decision-making process? We are well aware that no good comes out of comparison.
Yet whether we compare the size of our house, our paycheque, our physical characteristics, or anything measurable (or even immeasurables), we do it all the time. But these comparisons are filled with their own inherent problems.
- Never compare your progress in life with someone else’s scale.
- Never compare your worst phase with their best.
My intention here is not to point a finger at you. The problems that we face today are a collective result of the entire society. Through the social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram etc. we are continuously being bombarded with exhibits of celebration, triumph, success, and accomplishment. Comparing yourself to others becomes a lot easier and faster like this.
We tend to focus on things like:
- Look who just bought a luxurious car.
- Look who just came back from a 10-day trip.
- Look who just bought a beautiful house.
- Look who just got his dream job.
- Look who just lost 20-kilos of weight.
BUT, What about you? What have you done in the recent past except staring at their achievements and comparing yourself to them?
You are busy staring at all of the exciting and wonderful things everyone else is doing while you’re sitting around idle and aimless staring at your phones and scrolling endlessly.
Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.
― Jon Acuff
The honest truth
The honest truth is that someone will always be better than you. This is a universal truth and you can’t deny it, you can’t run away from it and the only thing that you can do is to accept and embrace it.
But the Irony
Let us not forget the irony over here that someone will always be less than you. So, let us accept it and start moving ahead to make ourselves better in whatever we are doing.
“Don’t compare your life to others. There’s no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it’s their time.”
-Stephanie J. Brown
Ultimately we desire Happiness
If you think for a while, you will realize that all decisions that we make in our life, we are aiming for just one thing i.e. happiness. Yes, it’s happiness and happiness only that you, me, and everyone desires.
All throughout your life, you are aiming to be just happy and satisfied. You earn millions and billions but at the end of the day, if you are not satisfied and happy, I don’t think that money is doing its job properly. At the end of the day, when you go to bed, there should be a smile on your face and satisfaction in your heart. So, stop comparing, start accepting, aim for happiness and write your own unique story.
There is no need for comparison. Be happy with yourself and find satisfaction in your work.
-Lailah Gifty Akita
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