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Have you ever heard the saying “Comparison is the thief of joy?” We’re talking about joy killers and a sure-fire killjoy is comparison.
Have you ever been scrolling through LinkedIn when you see someone posting about a new job or promotion and you think, “Their life looks ideal. They’re probably rolling in the dough and loving life.” Or maybe you find yourself swept up in social media, stumbling upon pictures of seemingly perfect families. The kids are smiling, dressed perfectly, even the dog is smiling, and the husband and wife look so in love. You look at other people’s lives and think you got the short end of the stick.
When you survey other people’s lives and surmise that theirs is way better than yours, you set yourself up to be disgruntled and you can be tempted to lament yours. Comparison can make you anxious and depressed and lure you into believing you are missing out on life. We all do it. It’s part of being human, but if we aren’t careful we can find ourselves down the rabbit hole of discontentment.
The other day I came across an article on Michelangelo, perhaps the most celebrated Renaissance artist of all time. The article talked about a poem Michelangelo wrote describing how much he hated painting the Sistine Chapel! He famously worked 65 feet in the air on custom scaffolding and wrote about the four years of physical toil. “I’ve already grown a goiter from this torture, hunched up there like a cat….. My stomach’s squashed under my skin,….my brain’s crushed in a casket…..My brush, above me all the time, dribbles paint so my face makes a fine floor for droppings.” Who knew Michelangelo was so disgruntled when everything looked so picture-perfect?
We can often look into people’s lives and think everything is going swimmingly when in fact they are experiencing their own version of despising life. Not everything is as it seems. And comparing your life to others can provoke you to think and maybe even do some crazy things. It reminds me of the story of brothers Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter four. The account tells us that God was pleased with Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. Abel seemed to have a better life, more favor from God, and that caused resentment and envy to begin to build up in his brother. Cain resented God for blessing his brother and began despising Abel, which eventually led Cain to murder him. Now I know that is an extreme example but comparison can kill your joy and it is a slippery slope.
Who are you comparing yourself to? Whose life may look more pleasing than yours? How are you letting other people’s seemingly perfect life steal your joy?