The Comparison Trap
Comparison is stealing your joy - and it's bloody everywhere!
Social media has turned comparison into a full-time job. We scroll through highlight reels of other people's lives while sitting in the mundane reality of our own. Their perfect kitchen while we're looking at our messy bench. Their exotic holiday while we're stuck in traffic. Their successful business launch while we're still figuring out what we want to do when we grow up.
But here's what I've learnt about comparison - it's never fair because you're comparing your behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. You're comparing your rough draft with their published version.
The people who seem to have it all figured out are just better at curating what they show the world. They've got the same doubts, struggles, and mundane Tuesday mornings as everyone else - they're just not posting about them.
The most obvious place to start is limiting your scroll time. The more time you spend consuming other people's curated lives, the worse you'll feel about your own real life. Set boundaries around social media consumption - it's junk food for your self-esteem. Nothing good comes from endless scrolling through other people's achievements while you're in your pyjamas eating cereal for dinner.
When you see someone doing something amazing, get curious instead of competitive. Instead of feeling inadequate, get interested. "How did they do that?" "What can I learn from their approach?" Turn envy into education. Their success can become your inspiration rather than your torture.
Share your real life as an antidote to fake perfection. Show the failed attempts, the learning curves, the ordinary moments. Reality is more relatable than perfection anyway. When you're authentic about your struggles, you give others permission to be human too.
Focus on your own progress rather than everyone else's position. Compare yourself to where you were last year, not to where someone else is today. Your only competition is your past self - everyone else is running a different race with different rules and different starting points.
Celebrate other people's wins genuinely. When you authentically celebrate others' successes, it breaks the spell of competition. Their win doesn't diminish your potential - there's enough success to go around. Abundance thinking is more energising than scarcity thinking.
The happiest people I know have opted out of the comparison game entirely. They're too busy creating their own version of success to worry about everyone else's scoreboard. They understand that success isn't a limited resource that others can steal from them.
Your life doesn't need to look like anyone else's to be valuable. Your path doesn't need to match their timeline to be valid. Your version of success doesn't need their approval to be real.
What comparison habit is stealing your joy? How might your life feel different if you focused more on your own progress and less on everyone else's highlight reel?
ENERGY CLUB UPDATES:
Two of three Reclaim Your Life sessions are done but you can still catch up. We've saved the recording here so you can watch it anytime.
Join the final session on Tuesday September 23rd, 730pm NZ. See you!