When I look at myself in the mirror, standing alone, I don't see perfection, but I am pretty okay with myself. Of course I want to lose weight, and of course I want those blemishes off my skin, but mostly I am okay with what I see. If I am standing next to someone, I am never okay with what I see. I am comparing myself to them and seeing only what I lack that they have. I think this is a major problem in human existence. It has a few names, keeping up with the Jones', monkey see monkey do...can't think of anymore off the top of my head, can you?
I am a tutor and my math skills are typically far and above those who I tutor. I think they feel inadequate and I want to shake them and say, "Do you have any idea how many things you are good at, that I am not?!" Why do we obsessively compare ourselves to others and even worse, why do we compare those we love to others. So and so did this and you didn't. I know I have fallen into this trap for much of my youth, but somewhere, somehow I hope I grew out of most of it. I still have my failures, that childish inclination to compare my life with others.
The media, culture, and basically capitalism thrives on are desire to compare ourselves to others. Magazines, TV shows, we all have expectations of perfection because that is what we see each and everyday in the media around us. Try to remember this is real life you are living, not some contrived version for a photo shoot or a set. Our life isn't hand picked and scripted, it is ours and we have no choice to live it. Rather than comparing it to others, make decisions you can be proud of for reasons you can stand behind. Comparing is a dangerous trap and will likely lead you down a path that goes no where.
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