5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Compare Yourself to Others

We all do it. It is a bad habit that is unfortunately engraved and taught in our society. Social media continues to become more popular by the day which is one of the biggest comparison apps. It is common to base your happiness on how many followers you have or how many likes you get. You look at someone on social media or at a gym or restaurant and think “wow I wish I looked like that,” “I wish I could afford that,” “I wish I had that life.” LET ME STOP YOU RIGHT THERE. Answer this one question: WHO CARES?! No one cares if you didn’t buy the most expensive leggings, if your bicep is smaller than the guys next to you or if you didn’t get to go on a trip this weekend. We need to stop worrying about what others think and get rid of this conception that “we should” look or act a certain way. These 5 reasons are to help you realize how detrimental it is to continuously compare yourself to others and why you should start caring about yourself only.

Differences – Everyone is different (inside and out), so why compare? No one has a perfect life but you don’t know that just looking at a complete stranger. You need to realize that the things we see on social media are the things people want us to see; people don’t post about the tough or unfortunate things going on. I also think it is very important to understand that there will always be someone better than you at something. We all can’t be the masters of everything, so why should it matter if someone can squat or bench press more than you?

Focus – When you start comparing yourself to others, you start losing focus on yourself – which is the ONLY thing you should care about! Life is not a competition and there is no “rank.” You are who you are for a reason and you can’t change that. Why would you want to? Your focus should be on your personal wants/needs, goals, successes, etc. It is easy to care more about your weaknesses rather than your strengths. So do this: focus on your strengths, then celebrate and be proud of them! Life is a journey – focus on what you want and where you want to go.

Quality of Life – Constantly comparing will negatively impact your overall quality of life. We compare because we are unhappy with how we look and what we have. If we were happy with these things, it wouldn’t matter what other people had. If we constantly worry about others, our negative mindset will lead to decreased happiness and joy. This will ultimately lead to lack of progress and put you in this negative on-going cycle of unhappiness.

Motivation – This reason ties in closely with your focus and quality of life. If you lose focus on yourself, you are unhappy and your daily motivation decreases. You could be comparing yourself to someone else about clothes or cars, but your motivation at work or at home can be negatively impacted. This means that being unhappy and comparing yourself in one aspect of your life can hinder other areas as well. You could even “compare” in a different way. Instead of looking at another person and thinking you wish you looked like that, change your mindset and use their motivation to help you.

Enough is enough – “If you always want what others have, you will never have enough.” You will always want more and you will never be happy. Focus on what you already have and find ways to be happy with that. Maybe you are not benching 200#, but you are still lucky enough to have a gym membership and access to weights. Or maybe you are driving a 10+ year old car but want a BMW; use your wants to set goals and work towards saving for a new car when you still are privileged enough to have one that works.

Ultimately, it is crucial that you stop comparing yourself to other people. Be aware and stop yourself when you find yourself thinking negatively and worrying about other people. You don’t have to beat yourself up – just acknowledge the fact that you are doing it and change your focus.

As always, we hope this helps! If you have any questions or if you would like to read about certain topics, feel free to send us an email at TeamSP@SportsPerformancePT.com.

-Dr. Melanie