How to overcome comparison

Comparison is the thief of joy.
This famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt is absolutely true. Getting into the habit of comparing ourselves to other people’s lives and success is a big joy stealer and something we need to take control over and stop doing to be truly happy. In this posts I am going to show you how to do just that!

Do you ever scroll through social media and feel that sting of envy when you go through post after post of people that seem to have the perfect life? Let me tell you – You’re not alone!

This is such a common problem these days and sense we tend to spend a lot of time on social media its easy to get stuck in this feeling of comparison. Stuck in the thought of not being good enough, and that’s not a very pleasant place to be stuck in, right?

That’s why I want to address this. I believe that we all can have the life we dream of, but the way to get there is not by comparing our lives to others. That will just bring us down and hold us back from actually achieving our goals.

There are a few things we can do to start working on overcoming this unhealthy habit and I want to share these with you here.

Become aware of your triggers.
Avoid your triggers if possible.
Focus on your strengths.
Build your self-confidence.
Focus on your progress.
Practice gratitude

Become aware of your triggers

So, the first thing we need to do to overcome comparison is to identify what triggers this feeling.
Think through what it is that makes you feel this way when you were feeling just fine about your life a while ago?

Write down the things or people that often make you feel envy or less about yourself. Think about how this is affecting you in a negative way and make a commitment to catch yourself next time it happens.

Avoid your triggers if possible

When you know what or who often triggers your feeling of comparison it’s time to make some changes.
Often social media can be a big trigger. If you find yourself feeling less about yourself and your life when scrolling through social media, either make a decision not to do that as often or actually go in and unfollow the account that triggers this feeling. Fill your feed with accounts that make you feel the opposite instead!
A good rule to live by is to avoid triggers if they don’t ad meaning or real value to your life.

Focus on your strengths

Instead of looking at what others are doing and what others seem to be good at, start focusing on what you are good at, what your strengths are.
Make a list of your strengths and of what you are good at and remind yourself about these things whenever you start to compare yourself to others.

Build your self-confidence

To really get past comparison we need to get to the bottom of the problem and that usually is low self-confidence.
There are different ways to build your self-confidence. One is to Try something new, another is to be dedicated to something and sticking with it. And then there is the big one – identifying limiting believes and switching them for Affirmations. A few of these have links to blog posts where you can read more about the different techniques.

Building your self-confidence will help you feel good about yourself wherever you are on your journey.

Focus on your progress

When we se others having the life we dream of we often tend to forget that it has probably taken a lot of time and effort for those people to get to where they are today. We end up looking only at their end result and comparing that to our start.
Instead, try to focus on the progress you make. Set a goal and start working towards it and don’t stare your self blind on where you are today but on where you are going and acknowledge the progress and growth that is happening.
In the end of each week, look back and write down things that you have accomplished, things that have taken you closer to reaching your goal.

Practice gratitude

Gratitude is like the opposite to comparison and envy. When we start to focus on what we have instead of what we don’t have, a shift happens and his mindset shift is key to stop comparing ourselves to others in a negative way. If we can start being grateful for what we have we will eventually stop feeling envy towards other people’s lives.
Take a moment every day to write down at least tree things that you are grateful for. Do this for two weeks and se the difference it will make in your outlook on life, and you will probably want to keep doing this when the two weeks are up!

So, these are some techniques and ways to overcome comparison. If you try this, please let me know if it helps you out! I love hearing your stories of transformation and success!