‘Comparison is the thief of joy’

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” —Theodore Roosevelt

I’ve really wanted to write something about this ‘topic’ for a while but I haven’t known how to approach it without one: sounding like a moaning myrtle and two: Pride, my star sign being a Leo, it’s a major issue for me and admitting/stating that I compare myself to everyone and everything is a bit of a dent to it. While I sit and write this I can think of numerous times where I’ve thought the following; ‘they’re better than me’ oooor, ‘I wish I looked like them’ oooor ‘wish I was them’. For me it is simply a character flaw hidden somewhere in my head.

Nonetheless, as I’ve heard even just writing things down boosts positive thinking and this is why I’ve decided to actually write this post, I’m not really a person who likes to say how they feel I just ‘get on with it’, as some of my friends know, I used to live by ‘emotions show weakness’. But I am almost certain I’m not the only person who has felt like this at some point in their life.

I have discovered there are an infinite number of things upon which we can compare ourselves and an almost infinite number of people to compare ourselves to. Once we begin down that road, we never find an end.

I have always thought that others had more or were better than me because they were luckier/smarter/prettier/skinnier than I was. I felt like I have lived in the shadows of those around me, but the truth is – I put myself in the corner with my constant lack of self-confidence.

But the only thing I have learnt is that comparison robs us of what actually matters. We each get 86,400 seconds each day. And using even one to compare ourselves or our accomplishments/pay packets/looks to another is one second too many.

When really all I ever need to tell myself is:

The only person I should try to be better than is the person I was yesterday.