Compare and Contrast

Whoever said it was curiosity that killed the cat was probably never a teenage girl. I think comparison is far more believable. I’ve been wanting to write about comparison for a while and I just haven’t. At church one Sunday, our pastor spoke about it, and it sparked some ideas. A quote from Brian Tracy stood out to me that said, “We believe that 95% of your emotions are determined by the way you talk to yourself throughout the day.” If I’m being honest, I’m typically a pretty positive person. Although, it can be very easy to get in your own head.

I tend to compare myself to other things in several areas. Sometimes, I might not feel like I’m as smart as the person sitting next to me in class. Maybe it’s someone scoring better than I did in a UIL contest. Sports are a big one. I only play tennis, so I try my best to be good at it. Is it really all that bad if someone is slightly better than me? In my head, it feels like the world might end. Comparison is hard to run away from, and a lot of things don’t help. Social media is brutal. Everyone flaunts his or her best features which might happen to be my “worst” ones. Seeing pictures of everyone’s amazing body and nice, shiny teeth don’t exactly make me feel great about my own. Watching people post about their perfect relationships somehow helps me pick out the flaws in mine. Most people obviously only post the higher points of life but it’s still not easy to see. It’s funny how that works. When I really think about it, I realize I shouldn’t let it bother me. I don’t even think I could explain why it does.

I’d like to think of myself as a carefree and confident person. I’d also like to think that everyone has issues with comparison every once in a while. I don’t let it bother me constantly, because I know I shouldn’t. I’m still working on these issues, and I might be for the rest of my life. I just know I can’t spend all my days trying to figure out how to change for no reason. Comparison is said to be a thief of joy. What would we be without joy? Life is too short to worry about things you might not be. Instead, we should be proud of what we already are. Although we may be far from perfect, we are surely enough.