Is Comparing Yourself To Others Stealing Your Joy?

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“Is Comparing Yourself To Others Stealing Your Joy?”, is a topic that we all can relate to and have experience from time to time.

We all do this in some way or another and it really is a human thing to do and when we think about it, Self-comparison starts very early in life, from the time we are born comparison is taking place.

Comparing ourselves is a natural human behavior and when comparing ourselves from a healthy perspective it can be used as a way to gauge how we’re doing in various areas of our lives based on what appears to be possible

But it can also be stressful and cause a negative impact on our mental health if we are constantly comparing ourselves to others.

Researchers have identified 2 types of social comparison

Upward Social Comparisons which is where we look at people that we feel are better off than we are in an attempt to become inspired and more hopeful.

Downward Social Comparisons where we look at people we feel are worse off than we are, in an effort to feel better about ourselves and our situation.

These comparisons aren’t always bad for us, but they can sometimes be less helpful than we think they will be and at times they are truly bad for our happiness, joy and stress levels.