I never realized that the reason I have been so hard on myself my entire life is because I have a successful older brother. I mean, sure, I am not a dumb person, but my brother is a fighter pilot in the air force, and I am a college student with an undeclared major and no definite goals in life. Therefore, my life isn't looking so great in comparison.

I have pushed myself to have good grades and to find a good path to head toward in life, but it will never seem like I am as good as my brother. And hey, don't get me wrong, I am immensely proud of everything that he has achieved, but those achievements have made me feel more like a piece of trash than anything before. And that sucks.

I am not writing this article to vent my feelings to the world or show everyone that I often compare myself to my older sibling without realizing it; I am writing this in order to show other younger siblings that it is okay to feel like you can't measure up to your older siblings. Over time, I have realized that most of the friends I have who are younger siblings often feel like they're not as valued in their family as their successful siblings.

I have friends whose older siblings have received medical degrees and went on to be amazing doctors, and others whose older siblings have gained admissions to schools like Harvard and Yale due to their fantastic piano skills, and of course their younger siblings are going to be jealous and feel bad about themselves. (Although they will definitely be proud as well, no doubt about that.)

More often than not feelings like this make people feel even worse about themselves because they assume they are terrible siblings. Yet things like this would make anyone feel bad, especially when parents often use older siblings as examples for their younger children. That doesn't make the situation any easier for the younger siblings to deal with.

So, as an invisible letter to the parents of these children, it is important to state that comparing older and younger children is something that makes younger children feel like garbage half the time. It can be the most emotionally consuming and sad feeling in the world, when the younger sibling assumes that their parents don't value them as much because of how amazing their older siblings are.

But there is no need to feel this way, as parents and children alike have to learn that this way of teaching and learning is terribly mishandled and should be changed as soon as possible. Parents need to stop comparing their kids, and siblings need to stop comparing themselves to each other. That way, fewer people will feel like they are a piece of trash.