The title of this post is one of the main themes from the latest Kung Fu Panda movie, so seeing it was a good excuse to talk to the kids again about striving to be better each day than they were the day before in some way, rather than trying to be better than others around them.
It is kind of second nature to compare ourselves to others, perhaps wishing we could be more like certain people or glad we aren’t. It’s hard enough to not be critical of ourselves without comparing ourselves to others. Do we look as pretty? Are we as smart? Do we dress as well? Is our house or car up to par? Are we as happy? Are we a better or worse parent?
It is definitely easy to get caught up in comparing our lives to those around us too, which may or may not be a good thing. If things are going well for the most part, it might make us feel blessed and grateful for all that we have and can enjoy that we know others around us cannot, like a happy family, good health, a good job, smart and talented kids, and so on. If things are falling apart though, comparing ourselves to others can only make us feel worse because we want what we can’t have or once had. That only adds to the frustration and stress levels that are already pretty high.
It’s difficult to separate ourselves from the world around us and not want to put ourselves somewhere on a scale of where we are compared to others. As the saying goes though, “A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blossoms.” It is possible though to be grateful for even the small things without thinking about how we compare to others at the same time. I can always tell when people aren’t worried about how they compare to others, because they’re not afraid to be weird or random or do things that are maybe not the norm. They do what’s best for themselves and don’t worry about what others will say about them, but in a good way. They know the right people will accept them exactly how they are and don’t feel the need to change who they are to satisfy others. They don’t feel they need to compete with others either or put people down who are different from them. They are comfortable letting their true colors show. They don’t need to feel better than anyone else because they only worry about being better than they once were, and that’s it. They are free from the comparison trap and can concentrate on being their own best person.
I think a lot of people would be a whole lot happier if they could tune out the need to compare themselves to others, or others to themselves. If more people focused on improving themselves instead of putting down those who they feel are inferior for whatever reason, the world might be a better place, too.
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Lesson Plans For Life 