Make Comparisons But Do It Right

As it stands, we all hold specific views about comparison. Just like yours, here is mine.

For most of our lives, we strive to carry out certain undertakings— especially the most fundamental, identifying passion. We get caught up in the reins of others, helping them develop their abilities. We listen to musical artists, admire various paintings, explode on social platforms, and become critics of these. When they leave a spark in us, we praise their creators. Whereas we’re by ourselves, losing sleep over the untoward trajectory of our existence.

While we’re tangled with others, it’s impossible to look at ourselves the same. We’re rarely dismissive of the next person, even though their glances reflect undiluted hatred. We draw parallels, regardless, with the most successful and underdog in the group. We highlight what keeps us in mortal tandem and, simultaneously, dissimilitude. Sometimes, we convert these characteristics to percentages that later become a parameter for evaluating our superiority or inferiority.

But one thing remains, we’re far from equal. Or rather, paraphrasing George Orwell’s quote— Some of us are more equal than others.

Let me set my point straight. More times than often, people tell us to avoid comparison at all costs. The excuse for this is that it’s a joy killer. At some point, they even tell us we can make comparisons with peers but try not to let it get in our heads. Or we can only compare ourselves to the person we used to be in the past.

But you see, neither of those viewpoints is invalid. Many of us only have the wrong approach. For me, comparison is a fundamental requirement of our existence. And without it, our lives are pretty much flavorless. By this, I mean without comparison to other humans.

If you recall, back in elementary or senior school, you perhaps had a classmate you hated. Not for something serious rather than they’re the barrier to you clinching the top position. There’s the loathe, without a doubt. But I bet you still spy on their routines during free periods and prep sessions. You’re not looking to work out a betterment of yourself here. And even if you were, that’ll likely not turn the situation around as you’d like.

Indeed, studying this fellow is the clever thing to do rather than thinking of increasing your study time or something else of that sort at first. You get to learn and see what they do differently. It doesn’t matter if you choose to do the same or not. Because when you do either of these things, it doesn’t mean you’ll outclass them. And when you don’t, you note another intricacy of life; you don’t always get what you want, even though your level of preparedness matches those that do.

That’s for that. Let’s see it again from another perspective. You’ll agree that some of us are just a motivation away from breaking through. But how do we get that inspiration without looking at someone else— like a mentor? The truth is, we don’t get significantly inspired by self-comparisons. The reason is we’re often most certainly gentle on ourselves. But there are others, who have withstood rigor, and their stories are no other but the right prompt to kickstart our journey to ascension. That, we can’t get without the necessary comparisons.

Comparison makes us recognize a difference, but what we do with that is our business.

The order of our comparisons should be: look up to someone, learn from their unique practices, and adopt them if you can. You’ll be surprised I said, “if you can.” Yes, that’s because we can’t pull up equally with the strength of others. Some are endowed with the tenacity and perseverance to keep going. Meanwhile, others have a low threshold and wear out quickly. Hence the reason we need these people to inspire and spur us to action. After that, we can take one step after another, actively developing. Then will the comparison with our previous selves count.

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