When you are starting on your journey towards changing anything, you often get caught up looking at those who are ahead of you and wishing you were like them.

Sometimes this can be beneficial. It can help inspire you to reach whatever goal you have set for yourself. Seeing that someone else has done what you want to do can be motivational. But sometimes it can do the exact opposite.

When you look at those who have what you want and see their success, you can get down on yourself. All the stories start formulating in your head. I’ll never be able to do what they do. Look at how good she is at X, I’ll never be as good as her. It’s so easy for her and it’s so hard for me.

Believe me, I’ve heard all the stories. 😂 I may have even told myself some along the way. I’ve had people create a story where I am an unknowing player.  When I’ve demonstrated a posture to a new student, they’ve often said, “I’ll never be able to do that.” Hmm, it’s the first time they’ve seen this posture and it’s one I’ve been doing for over 20 years. Not sure that adds up. 🤔

We’ve all dealt with comparisonitis at one time or another.  You compare the early stage of your journey to someone who has been at this for a while. You don’t realize you are seeing the end result of their journey. We tend to ignore or conveniently forget all the work it took for them to get there.

It can be inspiring to look at someone who is where you want to be. But when you look at someone who is so far ahead of you it can often make you feel bad. You’ll want to stop long before you get started.

If you were to ask the person you were comparing yourself to what it took for them to get there, I bet you would be astonished to find out how long it took and the amount of work they put into it. It’s so true what they say about the person who found overnight success, it only took 5 years of hard work. 😅

Any change you want to make in your life will not come about just because you want it to. It takes hard work, discipline, commitment, consistency, and dedication to create lasting change.

But at the end of the day, Teddy Rosevelt said it best, “Comparison is the thief of joy”.

It’s hard to find success when we feel bad about ourselves. Comparisonitis will keep you stuck in place. Focusing on action and creating a plan to help you move forward will get you results. Like all things in life, you get to choose how you move forward and whether or not you enjoy the process. Now go do the thing!

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