Lifestyle Philosophy Spirituality

You Will Compare Yourself

You will compare yourself

How could you not?

How else would you know how to solve your problems?

You try to solve your problems — and not until you solved them — obviously you turn to those who did.

You will compare yourself — like you’d compare two strategies, two solutions, two ideas. You will compare — so as to come up with a better strategy, better solution, better idea.

 

The real problem is not that you compare

The real problem is that you confuse actions and strategies with the living and breathing human behind them.

You take it personally.

Whatever it is that you start comparing — you end up taking it personally.

You believe it determines your worth somehow.

You believe it determines someone’s worth.

 

And how would you not?

You’re struggling with this problem, you’re failing — when someone else has succeeded.

(your career-problems and money-problems and happiness-problems and relationships-problems and popularity-problems and doing-what-you-want-problems and fomo-problems and moral-problems and all the rest of it)

You’re obviously very determined to solve it, you believe it’s important that you succeed — and you’re failing.

Clearly someone who solves his problems is some admirable human

And you’re right

What else is there to do but to live, solve problems, experience life, and die?

 

The only catch is that the one who apparently has your problem solved is NOT YOU

You don’t truly know how he solved that problem

Obviously you can learn from him — and should

But HE IS NOT YOU

You don’t truly know how he solved that problem

Is it what he did?

Is it his intrinsic qualities which caused it?

Is it his luck?

Is it the help he got?

Is it hard work?

Is it smart work?

Is it change of mindset?

WHAT IS IT?

 

HE IS NOT YOU

HE CAN NEVER BE YOU

BECAUSE YOU ARE YOU

Therefore you really can’t compare two human beings

ONLY their actions

And even that must be taken with a grain of salt

 

And perhaps you see it at some point, and decide:

“I will NOT compare myself”

“I shall only compare myself to myself from the past!”

Which is a great idea indeed – because you can only improve yourself. You can’t be anyone else, it’s nonsense. You can only be you, and you can only change you.

 

Alas!

Alas you WILL compare yourself

One moment you decide “I don’t compare myself to others”, and “my value is determined by WHAT I DO EVERY DAY”, or maybe even “my value is intrinsic, it is derived from being human”

ALAS YOU DO compare yourself

Because you DO HAVE PROBLEMS

And you strive to solve them

Therefore you’ll INVARIABLY look at others

And then you’ll compare yourself

And you came full circle

 

And then you’ll compare yourself

And you came full circle

Unless you learned to SEPARATE ACTIONS FROM THE ACTOR

Unless you learned that we are all very different,

And that the actions and the actor can be strangely different,

And you humbled up and understood that it is all VERY CONFUSING: what one does, what one says he does, what one says he is, what one is, what one isn’t….

That great actors can take terrible actions, and terrible actors can take great actions.

And that it is perhaps best that you CEASE attempting to explain it, attempting to determine it, find a doctrine in it,

And perhaps you go ahead and focus on WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS

Stop distracting yourself with all the nonsense minutia — is it me, is it him, is it this, is it that — and focus on what you CAN LEARN, WHAT YOU CAN TRY IMITATING, WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY

 

You will compare yourself

Just do it right

Humble up

Relax

Don’t take it so personally

Do what others do — maybe it will work for you too!

Do it so that you can benefit your life — not so that it will benefit you ego

You’re not so great

Just try making the most out of this life: for yourself, for others