I’ve written about this before, but it came to my mind as I walked through the gym this morning. It’s easy to want to compare myself with others. The gym is filled with interesting sights. The old ride bikes alongside the young – one treadmill carries someone who is desperate to shed 50kg. The one next door has someone who looks like a marathon runner almost sprinting along. In the pool a little slip of a girl glides effortlessly through the water while someone three times her age, splashes messily in the next lane. Comparison is all over the gym. As I walked up the stairs today, I thought to myself the only person to compare yourself with is yourself. Test yourself against yourself and no one else.
A few years ago, I wrote this about comparison…mainly because Facebook can be so toxic:
Comparison robs us of our daily joy. It’s easy to compare – from very young, we compare toys with friends, we compare looks with magazine pictures, we compare gifts and skills and exam results. We weigh ourselves up against anyone in our life and anything in our life.
We look at each others complexions, at the shape of our faces, the length of our hair, the number on the scale. We look at each others possessions and houses and we evaluate ourselves in relation to what others have, as to whether we are better than them. If we have more or look better or are considered to have increased skill, we may consider ourselves a little superior. If we fall short of the standard we ourselves have set against someone else, we may feel ENVY! All of us have at some stage felt a little jealous.
Nothing does more in luring us into the comparison trap than Facebook! We just need to log onto our accounts and we are instantly exposed to all our friends have. The very best of their photos are displayed in front of us – their lives unfolding – their best faces, their best family pictures – their best holidays – the best side of their homes. We scroll through their photos, all the time, sub-consciously, we are weighing them up against ourselves. We have fallen straight into the comparison trap.
I know what my life looks like. I know that negativity and some ugliness lurks in the dark corners of my home and some parts of my life. And I am not alone. The yucky stuff is in all of us – we just choose not to display it on Facebook. We put our best foot forward.
Everyone is the same. When you look at their lives on FB, please remind yourself that they face hardships, just like you do. No one is exempt. We all face difficult storms, tragedy, ill-health and uncertainty. We struggle to understand it when bad things happen. We become miserable, have major relationship issues, argue, are discontent, climb financial mountains and do battle with lots of little daily frustrations. None, or very few, of those are scattered across FB. If some do choose to spew negativity across social media, they are quickly seen as horribly pessimistic and people don’t want to associate with them. They actually are more likely to be the honest ones. They are telling the truth of their lives and not harping on with a false negative life.
Facebook. The torrid home of comparison.
Think carefully before you compare your life to others. Forget about that.
From lifemind.com
The best filter through which to look at your life is via a Bible reflected lens.
Don’t compare yourself with what’s on this:
Compare your life, rather with what’s in this:
It’s a far better gauge as to what is right! Words from the Word will lead you down the right path!
Today’s been a good day. I worked for several hours. So it was really great that #626 of my 1000 thanks is that I didn’t have to cook. “Apprentice Chef Jonathan” made a kilogram of mild chicken curry. There was a huge amount. It was really good too. He was so excited to have made it for us.
1 Peter 4:19
Those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
Just keep trusting and continue to do good.
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gym:
- Fast walk – 28 minutes
- The Grid – 30 minutes – gruelling exercises, mainly arms, I’m not sure if I will be able to move them tomorrow!
- Cycle – 5 minutes.