Scroll. Scroll. Swipe. Double tap.

Scroll. Scroll. Swipe. Double tap.

I probably give about an aggregate of 1.5 hours of my day just about every day to this process.

I do it.  I like doing it. I’m keeping in touch. Great way to keep up with your friends and family and old classmates and favorite celebrities and new found YouTube sensations and cute animals and “Olivia from the Cosby Show” memes and everything.

I am 25. Along with that, I am and I am not many things. But the aforementioned process of  scavenger hunting my favorite social media outlets mainly tells me who I am not.

It’s a consistent source of comparison, but I do it.

Comparison is something that starts well and ends horribly. It usually begins with admiring some positive attribute in someone else. A compliment. It goes wrong when you measure yourself against that person based on that attribute. A criticism.

And that very comparison is a killer with mental poison as its weapon of choice. We let the accomplishments of others discourage us from attempting our dreams instead of using their achievements as fuel for our passions.

We let comparison kill the unique vision for our lives.

Our hearts are filled to the brim with anticipation for the chance to live the lives we dream of, yet we prefer to be on the sidelines of social media silently giving greater credence to someone else’s life.

We compare ourselves.

That comparison will always shatter us because the scales are imbalanced. We give another’s life greater weight based on snapshots of moments; while we refuse to add the weight of our experiences to the scale. They win.

Yes, comparison is a killer, but you have to kill it before it kills you.

And here’s what I’m learning. Scrolling through the carefully curated walls of Facebook, I’m learning to celebrate their art. Because I know the trials and travails it took to create what’s on my canvas.

Hope this helps!
Ambini

Send me a note at theambini@gmail.com or leave a comment!