In a world where people love to compare themselves to others, myself included, it is hard to really understand what is actually the norm. Ever since returning home for summer and working at my grade school and high school for summer camps, I have come to realize that schools are breeding grounds for comparisons.
When I was in school, I don't think that there was a day when I didn't compare myself to someone else. Whether it was about my appearance, my grades, my emotions, my home, my family, my clothes, my opinions, my possessions, or anything else having to do with myself or others, I was consistently comparing myself to these other people. This mostly had to do with my state of mind and my age. In college, I still compare myself to others, but now I do it much less frequently, I recognize when I do it, and I understand how it makes me feel.
We learn from a young age that, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." My favorite spin-off of this quote is, "The grass is greenest where you water it." This is almost always true. High expectations have done nothing for me other than let me down and disappoint me.
So, what makes the grass so green on the so-called "other side?" Is it the perfect picture of life that we see others embracing? Is it the girl's perfectly straight hair? Is it the idea that others always have it better than us? Is it that we are really so full of our own negativity, self-loathing, and selfishness that we decide to bring others into our struggle by blaming them for our high expectations while making others feel bad for having good opportunities?
When we do our best to stop comparing ourselves to others, magical things can happen. This magic involves improving upon ourselves, on what we used to be, and on who we want to become. The main reason why we need to stop these comparisons is because someone will always have something that you want. Jealousy is a mean monster that should drive you to be your best. It shouldn't drive you to be something that you are not.
