Comparison Will Kill Your Destiny
Posted on June 26, 2015 by Andrea Crisp, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Set yourself free to be who you were meant to be.
Nothing will steal from you quite like comparison. Comparison paints our lives in the light of our biggest fears and insecurities. It is not kind, and is extremely unforgiving. Sadly, we will all fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to one another at different points in our lives.
Comparison will kill your destiny!
From childhood, I remember comparing myself to others. It didn’t matter if I was in church, with my family or on the playground. Even at a young age I possessed a deep yearning to be like the kids whom I perceived to be more gifted, talented, athletic and popular. Not gonna lie, I still find myself doing it to this day.
Why is it so hard for us to see ourselves as God sees us?
I heard this great thought and wanted to share it with you – “We are constantly comparing our behind the scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel.” With constant social media bombardment it is so easy to get caught up feeling inadequate and insecure.
Instagram by it’s very nature allows us to share our best moments with the world. Twitter gives us the opportunity to sound smarter than we actually are, and Facebook provides our friends and family with an unrealistic running commentary of our lives. But the reality of these platforms is that they don’t share the realness of our every day lives. I mean really – no one wants to post about our struggles and weaknesses.
Now, I’m the first to admit that I love social media. It is a great way to connect, but when we filter the life of others through the lense of comparison we will be left feeling unworthy and inadequate. Social media, although an amazing tool for connection is not real.
Even if you don’t find yourself scrolling the feed of a social media app, you may have thumbed through the pages of a magazine, or listened to someones TedX talk and thought to yourself, “wow I wish I could be like that.”
It does not really matter what form it comes in, comparing ourselves to what others have achieved, how they look, or even who they hang out with will suck the joy right out of our lives.
I am not suggesting that you completely unplug from the world, but I am saying that you may need to reframe the picture you see. First of yourself, and then of those who are around you. The truth is that we are never really sure what others are facing. Maybe something in their lives seems shiny, but they may be going through a personal tragedy.
If we spent more time seeing ourselves in light of who God has made us to be we would learn to be effective with the gifts that He has called us to. Instead of wanting to possess more talent, work on the talent you do have. Instead of wishing you had a great group of friends like your friend on Facebook, work on nurturing the relationships that are in your life.
Staying clear from comparison may be something that is a life long journey. Learn to enjoy being who you are, who God has made you to be.
