#854 False Comparison

In our last couple +1s, we talked about the toxicity of envy (soul ulcers! 😲) and a potential antitode (celebratory mudita love! 😘).

Today I want to revisit Paul Jarvis’s brain (and book!) for one more take on how to deal with envy.

He has a great passage about the perils of what he calls “false comparison.”

First, he says: “When we give in to envious feelings, the best we can hope for is second best, since we’re focusing on copying someone else’s path and not forging our own.”

Then he says: “Envy is also based on false comparison, like comparing uncooked ingredients to a delicious baked pie. Envying others, we see only the end result or the final product—the delicious dessert. But in ourselves, we see all the not-so-tasty starting ingredients and are aware of all the real work required to combine them into a successful end product.”

(How good is that?!)

Carrying on: “We too often compare our sometimes messy selves to only the best and shiniest parts of others and come up short. Remember, every business has not only its successes but its failures.”

Amen.

(Reminds me of these +1s on Messy and Edited.)

So, recap: If you’re going to compare yourself (please don’t but… lol), AT LEAST do a proper comparison. 🤓

Don’t compare your imperfect process with someone else’s supposedly perfect outcome.

That’s Today’s +1.

If you feel so inspired, pause for a moment.

Nibble on that wisdom.

And let’s get back to making our idiosyncratic life-ingredients into a delicious iconoclastic masterpiece.

(While, of course, celebrating everyone else’s!)