Comparison: Is it good or bad?

We are uniquely made by God and so, we are all beautiful no matter what our physical appearances are.

But, sad to say, there are still some of us who always find time to compare themselves to other.

Let me tell you my own experience about it.

I have a friend before which I am not acquainted to anymore as she isn't fond of everything about me. She keeps on being jealous for what I have especially in terms of academic aspects. She's my former classmate as well who always asked for my scores during quizzes and exams and compared her own. When she got higher scores of course she's very happy and seems belittling me but, when it's her who got lower scores than mine, she will double check my answers and was eager to find my mistakes.

Why do people doesn’t realize that comparing themselves to others will never make them happy and satisfied? How can they be contented when they keep on envying other people's strengths and successes?

Focus on the inside, not the outside

If we focus more on ourselves, thinking upon how can we be able to improve and achieve our goals, we will never have the guts to envy other people's lives. It's better to mind our own businesses and don't be jealous when others are achieving their goals earlier than us. We can achieve it too. Success doesn't have timeline, even if we are making slow progress, if we are heading to the right path, we will be there soon. I know, I've already mentioned that on some of my previous articles but, I just want to remind you again if ever some of you missed or forgot about it.

Jealousy is the recipe for unhappiness

Being jealous will do no good especially if we are envying what other people have instead of making them as our inspiration or motivation. We will never find the contentment within ourselves if we will do that. Jealousy will just make us feel down if others are succeeding in life. So, instead of comparing ourselves to them and being jealous, just be happy and maybe on the next day, we will rise as well because of our perseverance and golden heart. We just have to believe in ourselves and practice self-love because that's the real recipe for happiness. Adding pinch of jealousy will just make us unhappy, do you want that? Of course, no one wants to die just because of that reason.

COVID-19 is still here, some people may be practicing health and safety protocols to protect themselves, but they aren't realizing that the jealousy on their system is slowly killing them instead of the deadly virus. Be careful.

The past and our present selves.

Instead of comparing ourselves to other people, it's better to compare ourselves to who we are yesterday. That's the time when we have the chance to identify the mistakes we've done, the behaviors that made us in trouble, or the skills that we need to improve to succeed next time.

Just like when we encountered failure along our way to success. Instead of losing hope and will never have the courage again to move forward, let's motivate ourselves to work again by improving ourselves and we can do that if we will identify the mistakes we've done through comparing ourselves on that day.

Another example is when we are in a learning environment just like in school. Of course, inside a classroom we will meet different students who have their own skills and intellectual capacity that might excel what we have but, it will never be an opportunity to compare ourselves to them and be jealous about it especially if they got high scores than us whether in exams, quizzes, or performance tasks. If we failed on those mentioned learning tasks, reflect on what we've done. Think about what we did, if we really studied hard, or if we really exerted an effort to get high grades. If not, then, we will change our strategy and mindset to improve our performance. From that, we will have the chance to succeed next time.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Comparing yourself to other people is very dangerous for your physical, mental, and emotional health. Just think as if you are forcing yourself to be sexy just like your friend, but you didn't know that you are already killing yourself by not eating enough foods for your health. Your mental and emotional health will be targeted next, especially since you are not getting enough nutrients for your body that kinda affects how you think especially if you feel dizzy or when you are worrying to much on the results that makes you too emotional as well.

We are all rare gems. We are all worth it so there's no point for us to compare ourselves to other gems as we are uniquely beautiful by being true to ourselves. We don't have to change just to fit in with a set standard on our society. We don't have to rush just because others are achieving their goals and here we are, still stuck on the process.

Comparison is okay as long we will use it to motivate ourselves, and not to drag other people down. If we know how to value ourselves and never compare, the level of contentment seems like above the sky.

Let's remove all the envy and toxicity in our minds and hearts, and replace it with love, contentment, and perseverance.

Author's Note:

Thank you everyone for reading. I hope you are all happy as much as I do while writing this article before this first day of September ends. Aside from that, I just want you too know that you are very beautiful just by being you. Always keep safe and may God bless you more.

Date Published: September 1, 2021

Lead Image and Gif: Originally created by me using Canva