Comparing ourselves.

Why is it we compare ourselves to others? I ask myself this question most days, actually every day. I too have fallen a victim to comparing myself. Sometimes I wish to look like someone else, to have a smaller forehead or have their flat stomach, but it’s not just that I wish for. Some days I’ll wish for someone else’s life, to have their successes or to be on a similar path to them. I’ve not just fallen victim to this way of thinking, but I’ve allowed these thoughts to consume me entirely.

I’m at a stage in my life where I’m not happy, so I compare myself to everyone around me. I don’t have the job I want or even the body, but it’s taken me until now to realise that no one else around me has been through what I’ve been through. No one else feels what I feel and no one see’s what I see. Yet, I compare myself to someone who is completely different from who I am.

It’s time for me to stop comparing myself to others, even when I’m pushed to. If you’re reading this and have fallen victim to this way of thinking, then remember we all have insecurities and most of us compare ourselves. So that person you look at and wish to look or be like is most likely comparing themselves to someone else too. We are all different and unique in our own way.

I compare myself to others because I’ve not yet learned how to love myself. Loving yourself is one big journey to go on, and this is just another step in it for me. There is one main thing that I’ve learned throughout this journey and it’s that we’re all completely different. I don’t mean different in the sense that we all look different or have different lives but, we are all unique. For instance, My brother and I have been dealt the same cards, we both lost our mom. Yet, we both still respond differently, and that’s what separates us.

When comparing myself to others who are my age that have a job, an apartment and have moved away, I feel ashamed that I’m not where they are, but that’s not my path to take. When I see someones perfectly flat stomach or perfectly proportioned face, I realise that If I was handed that then I probably would still have insecurities and most of all I wouldn’t be who I am now. I wouldn’t experience the body image problems I do and although I hate not liking the way I look, It’s given me strength and more motivation to want to love myself and talk about it. If I didn’t have any of that I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

It’s time to stop comparing ourselves; we are all unique and have our own path to take. Next time you think about wanting to be like someone else, remove whatever it is from your life and imagine yourself without it, you wouldn’t be who you are and that’s why our paths are so unique. Even though these things hurt, it makes us stronger and pushes us in the direction we are meant to go.

 

A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it, It just blooms.