2 Tiny Antidotes to Comparison

Comparing oneself to others is not a new feeling for most people. I have felt the same way a million times and this feeling always pissed me off. So, I looked for some concrete thoughts, for deployment whenever these emotions arise. They are working out quite nicely so here they are :

I will never compare myself with anything that I cannot truly see

By see I mean more than with the eye. It means anything I don’t fully understand, or know the context of. For ex: I won’t compare myself to say, a millionaire song producer/player/film star of my age because they are not in my direct vicinity and I know nothing about them. I won’t even compare myself to my contacts because again, I can never fully “see” them.

Who does this leave? Only me. Thus, I will only compare myself to me, in time frames. Say, I will compare myself, to myself a month ago or a week ago and that’s it. I can easily win against the lazy me from a week ago, but I will have to be not-lazy for that, right? And that right there is progress. Self-helped.

Use meaninglessness and chaos incase things get out of hand

Well, the first rule works most of the time but sometimes I need an emotion to nullify another emotion. Just thinking that I won’t compare myself to someone doesn’t work incase the feeling of envy is already rambling around my brain. So, I visualise the vast universe, then the milky way, and then the earth. I imagine human beings walking around on this planet. And without a single thought coming up, the feeling of envy has cleared out and gratitude has poured in. When just being born is such a low probability activity, gratitude becomes a natural emotion.

I am not sure whether these approaches have errors or not. I don’t know whether they will end up being toxic later on. Either way, it’s fun. This use of counter thoughts, I mean. Bye! Have a great day!