Comparing yourself to others can be positive in some cases. If our colleague at the office shows a special passion and dedication to work, we can consider him an example to follow and an inspiration to change the way we see our work. We found that seeing the positive side of our job will make us happier. Comparing ourselves with others can help us discover what kinds of changes we want to make in our lifestyle. If we see that our friend gets up early every morning to go to the gym before work, he sleeps eight hours a day and always acts calmly even When the situation that presents itself is complicated, we can discover that by modifying our attitude towards life and our daily habits we can be more happy. However, when we compare ourselves to others we usually feel worse, not better. In this PsychologyOnline article, we tell you why and give some tips to stop comparing yourself to others.
Index
- The lives of others are not as happy as we think
- How to stop comparing your current progress with that of others?
- How can I stop comparing myself to others continuously?
The lives of others are not as happy as we think.
If you use Facebook, you might think that everyone goes out with their friends every weekend, they visit the better restaurants, they do the funniest activities, they travel all the time and always, always they smile. You may have this idea because the photographs you see of your friends and acquaintances make you think it is true. However, what your friends and acquaintances do not post on their social network is the number of times they stay home instead of hanging out with friends, going to a restaurant, or doing activities fun. Nor do they say on Facebook that the trip they have undertaken recently was strictly work, so neither they even had a chance to visit the city because they had to go home immediately after the meeting. And if it seems that they always smile, it is because that is how we want others to see us when we are in front of a camera.
On Facebook, people explain their happiness at starting a new job, but don't mention how sad they were a month ago when they were laid off from their previous job. People choose what to post.
How to stop comparing yourself to others on Facebook?
Don't log off thinking that other people's lives are perfect. Limit the time you dedicate to the most used social network in the world and, if necessary, close your account permanently and spend your time seeing your friends and acquaintances in person. So you will discover that the photo they uploaded a week ago of their impeccable house was taken after a whole week of stress and nervousness during the move.
How to stop comparing your current progress with that of others?
If you want to be a successful person (and we are sure you are), try compare what you have achieved so far with what you want to achieve in the future near.
This comparison will be much more useful for you. Think how happy you will be when comparing the grades you have obtained this semester with those of your classmates. Now, think about how happy it will be to compare your current grades with the ones you want to achieve. the next semester, when you have more time to dedicate to your studies and you will be able to upload your grade half.
How can I stop comparing myself to others continuously?
It is better to become the person you want to be without having to compare yourself to others. Find out what you want to change about yourself. You, not your father or your coworkers. Spend more time doing what makes you happy (you probably have some activities in mind that make you feel better, like listening to music, painting, walking to the work to get some exercise, learn new recipes to enjoy that healthy and tasty food, or decorate your house) and stop doing what does not make you feel happy. If you want to feel better about yourself, find out how you want to live your life and what changes you should make to be happier. When the changes you make in your life make you feel happier, comparing yourself with others will no longer make sense because you will already feel satisfied with yourself.
When we compare, we forget that competition is getting us nowhere. If you are always going to compete with others, spending your time trying to be better than them, when will you have time to find out who you really want to be? How can I stop competing with others? Accept that competing does not make sense, because you do not need to be better than others. You just need to be the person you want to be.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to stop comparing yourself to others, we recommend that you enter our category of Personal growth and self-help.
