Have you ever noticed yourself making comparisons with others? If your answer is Yes! then it’s not surprising at all, as it is a natural tendency to compare with others. Sometimes those comparisons are done for other people when we compare one person to another person. Comparing relatives, friends, acquaintances or one neighborhood aunty to another or simply comparing a renowned person, whom we do not even know. As long as we compare others, it does not affect our lives in any way. But the real problem begins when we start comparing ourselves negatively or unfavourably with other people (friends, cousins, relatives) in our close circle or people whom we know from a distance (friend of friends or any person even some time to complete strangers). Comparisons are never healthy and always push us on a dark path.
Have you ever noticed how the habit of comparing with others often takes away mental peace and happiness from life? According to the social comparison theory, we tend to compare ourselves with others in order to evaluate our own personal and social worth. But this habit is always discouraging and pushes us in self-doubt mode.
The quote by Mark Twain “Comparison is the death of joy” is so apt in expressing that the habit of comparing with others never makes us feel happy and ends the joy of our life.
Here I am listing six reasons on how the habit of comparing with others makes your life uneasy and uncomfortable by damaging your sense of self-worth.
Puts you in the mode of Self-Criticism
When you compare yourself with others, it often impacts your perception towards your own self. The moment you start comparing yourself with people around you, thinking that they have better lives and strong identities, it makes you feel negative about yourself. You start underestimating and devaluing your own worth, by pinpointing your faults or weaknesses in life. The voice of your inner critic becomes active and knocks down your self-confidence.
Lowers your sense of self-worth
Comparing with others makes you feel inferior and you start developing a sense of low self-worth. The habit of comparison makes you feel miserable and eventually lowers your self-esteem.
Affects your mental health
A regular habit of comparing with others negatively affects your quality of mental health and causes depression, anxiety, and even anger. All these feelings and emotions affect your wellbeing only negatively.
Makes you feel dissatisfied in life
Constant comparisons give you lots of dissatisfaction in life. You start feeling that you do not have sufficient possessions and qualities. When you constantly compare yourself with others’ strengths, it makes you feel unhappy and dissatisfied with your own life. You tend to forget to count your own blessings and strengths in life.
Stops you from living happily
Comparisons often hinder you to live your life happily and deplete your energy to do something meaningful in life. When this becomes a habit, it won’t let you live with joy and you may feel desolated.
Makes you feel jealous and envious
When you compare yourself with others, it often makes you feel jealous and envious of that person. Thinking negatively about others only harm your quality of life and stops you from nurturing good relationships with others.
Comparing with others is not a good thing to do, as it always makes you feel like a loser in life. This depletes your energy and shifts your focus more on weaknesses that you have in life rather than on your strengths. Making a comparison with others, robs away the precious moments of life and won’t let you live life peacefully. You need to understand that it is not going to do any good rather it will make you feel miserable all the time.
So if you are habitual of comparing yourself or your loved ones with others just stop and think consciously. Doesn’t it makes you feel unhappy and even steals the joy from your life? So how you should stop this habit?
Read the article here to learn the ways to break this habit, that negatively affects the quality of your life.
First published here
