16 Words That Bring Me Peace
Inspired by a Zen Philosopher
I used to compare myself to others all the time. It didn’t matter if it was about body type, skin condition, the type of aftershave or deodorant they wore, their type of hairstyle, fashion, humour, coolness, awkwardness, sexiness… You name it — I compared myself to peers and strangers alike.
Somehow I always ended up on the wrong side of self-love and compassion — caught somewhere in between trying too hard and falling short and trying to fit in and losing myself.
It was exhausting and it did nothing but give me anxiety and a lack of confidence.
Luckily, during this time I heard Wayne Dyer say: “You don’t need to be better than anyone else; you just need to be better than you used to be.”
It was such a relief. It allowed me to stop comparing myself to others and start investing in myself.
I quickly learned that the only true comparison worth making is with the person we were yesterday. And the more I dug around, the more I found people sharing a similar message.
It didn’t seem to matter the era they belonged to or the culture they grew up in, they each expressed that comparing ourselves to others “is the thief of joy” as Marcus Aurelius put it.
