No matter where we are, even if it's a class, a party, work, or a family gathering, we'll have this little voice in the back of our heads wondering if we add up with everyone else. It's constantly wondering if we look okay, if we are are saying the right things, or if we are doing enough to live up to what everyone else wants us to be. We sit in classrooms and lecture halls where we are given the bar or standard to which we are required to meet if we want to even be thought of as a contender in anything. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if we are "doing all of the right things," then we worry about how we look and what we say compared to everyone else.
Awareness is a good thing. It keeps us from going to weddings in pajamas and form telling our bosses that we think that they are the biggest idiots on the planet. The issue arises when you become crippled by it and when you come back to your room overtime crying and broken because you don't fit in with the people who you work with. When you base your worth on how well you "fit," your achievements are clouded by the fact that you don't talk, dress, or act the way that your peers do. This unhealthy awareness turns into comparison.
Comparison makes us look at everyone around us and weigh what they do against ourselves. This doesn't sound like a bad thing until you take into consideration that we only see one side of everyone else. We know every aspect of our lives, but only the outside of the ones who we compare our life to. When we look at our lives, we see our accomplishments and our shortcomings, however, we only see the accomplishments of others. All of the shortcomings and struggles are invisible to us. We aren't able to see the sacrifices or trauma that created the being who we are using as a ledger.
This action of comparing ourselves to everyone else in every aspect of our lives puts us on the fast track to unhappiness and feeling worthless. This is something that none of us should feel. All of us are beautiful beings who are all capable of insane and wonderful things. There are so many instances where if people would have compared themselves to the society and people around us, then we would have nothing we have now. If everyone only followed the trends of society and the social norms around them, we would still be sitting in caves and eating raw meat in the dark.
Our differences and joy should be embraced and loved. That's what makes being alive so exciting and wonderful. We exist and are alive today because there is a place for us and we are needed. We may not know why we're needed or what we're suppose to do, but we get the chance to do so, at least. We should take advantage of getting to experience all of the other differences and people that exist in the world.
