Why comparison is the thief of joy
It is all too easy to look at the lives of those around you and feel like they’ve got it all sorted.
That’s because we have an idealised perception of other people’s lives. Social media magnifies this effect by only showing us the carefully selected snapshots.
This can lead us to feeling like our own lives aren’t nearly as great.
We are drawn into comparisons between what we have and what others seem to have.
This is an important distinction to make.
We know the things that aren’t going so well for us but we can’t see a complete picture of what life is like for those we are measuring ourselves against.
So what can you do?
The trick here is not to compare ourselves with others.
This is because envy is a powerful but insidious emotion. There will always be someone richer, more accomplished, better looking, more physically fit.
This is because we are all unique and therefore have different individual strengths. The challenge is that you have no control over other people’s strengths. Only your own.
Therefore, a better approach is to compare your current self with your former self.
It’s a much fairer from of comparison as you actually have control over it.
All you need to do is to set yourself a goal to improve an area of your life. This could be to get into better shape or to learn a new skill.
As you work towards your goal, you will be able to see an improvement versus your old self which is one comparison you will finally feel good about drawing.
If you would like to learn more about happiness and how you can create more of it in your own life then enrol in our course made in collaboration with The Happiness Research Institute.
