The Futility of Comparing Yourself to Others

By Leo Babauta One of the biggest reasons we’re not content with ourselves and our lives is that we compare ourselves to other people. Picture it: you see photos of what someone else is doing on Facebook and think your life isn’t exciting enough. You see someone else who has a cool job and think you’re not doing that great in your career. You see someone with a hotter body, and feel bad about yours. You see someone who has created an awesome business, and think you’re not doing enough. You read about people who are traveling the world, learning languages, going to exotic resorts and restaurants, and wonder why you’re not. Of course, you’re comparing your reality to an ideal, a fantasy. It’s not a comparison that makes sense. You can’t compare apples to apples when you compare yourself to anyone else. Which means it’s a dumb comparison — why would you compare how tangy an orange is compared to a beach? They’re not similar things. Let’s take an example: I’m out running in the park, and I see someone running past me. Obviously he’s a faster runner, and better than me! Oh, that makes me feel horrible about myself as a runner! Except I can’t compare myself to that faster runner, because I don’t have all the information. I don’t know: how far they’re running (I might be running 12 miles and they’re running 2) where they are in their training plan (I might be sta...
Source: Zen Habits - Category: Life Coaches Authors: Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs