Leanne has been thinking about the impact of comparing yourself to others. Comparing yourself can negatively influence one's life, but Leanne helps us consider turning comparison into motivation and self-belief.
At some point in our lives, we all compare ourselves to others we aspire to be or want the things they have; this can be friends, family, acquaintances, work colleagues, neighbours, people on social media and even strangers. This can make us feel quite negative about ourselves because we feel like we are not doing good enough compared to other people around us. However, we forget that everyone has their own journey and has experienced different things in different stages of their lives and may have different circumstances.
When we meet people that we have something in common with or people who have had similar experiences, we can connect and relate with each other. This also makes you feel better because they have a level of understanding of what you are going through, so you can support each other. A great example of this is attending an Empowering Voices course where you are all there to gain control of your stammer; there are people that are completely new to the technique, people who have been practising for a few years and some many more years. It's important to remember that everyone learns differently, at their own pace and in their own way that’s comfortable for them.
Thinking about how you could turn the negative thinking of comparing yourself to other people into a positive thought; instead of saying, “They are doing so much better than I am; I am a failure”, you could say, “I am doing my best, and I am proud of how far I have come”. This helps to reduce the tension and the pressure on yourself of how well you think you should be doing. No one is doing well in everything in their life; everyone strives to do better, and everyone struggles in one thing or another. There will even be people who look at you as their inspiration and see things that you are doing as fantastic; my point here is to embrace your strengths and take time to learn and practice what you want to improve in.
Something that I try and do is to stop and remember what I have been successful in, recognising the hard work I put in to achieve it and how I can help other people to do the same. It's such a great thing to celebrate each other’s achievements and take time to share with each other what has worked for them, and what hasn’t so that you can put your own stamp on it and find what works for you. Being part of a community, you can develop not only your own skills and experiences but have a positive impact on others.
Appreciate your strengths and use them to your advantage. No one is perfect, despite what they present on the outside. As long as you're working towards something, that’s a win in itself.
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