BY: CLAIRE KIM
Nowadays to be successful in society, we have to exceed everyone’s expectations and prove that we are the best. From school to work, the competition to be recognized is constantly in motion because we are so motivated to receive compliments and be reassured that we are in fact special. With such a high goal, we push ourselves past the limits and neglect our emotional health and well-being unconditionally. Stress, less sleep, and peer-pressure are just a few obstacles we stumble across while trying to maintain this perfect path to success. In my opinion, one of the most toxic habits we build from this journey is our tendency to compare ourselves to others thus lowering our self-esteem and worth in the world. By doing this, we are essentially tearing ourselves apart and claiming that we are of no significance because we are not as good as someone else. This mentality that we encompass starts to get worse and worse as time flies by and we don’t even realize how severe and unhealthy it is to be thinking like this in the first place. Eventually, this can become so toxic that we give up on ourselves and lose our positive mindset and personality altogether. This is when depression and anxiety come into play. For me, I think it’s very important to self-criticize instead of criticizing based off of others accomplishments. With over 7.6 billion people in this world, it’s no surprise that there will always be at least one person that is better than us in what we do. Knowing this, we shouldn’t feel upset when we find ourselves lagging behind others. In fact, we have to realize that being better than someone else shouldn’t be our main motivation to succeed because it only makes life less exciting and more exhausting. Being patient and putting in the effort is a much better use of time than complaining about our faults and disadvantages in comparison to other people. We all have 24 hours, 52 weeks, and 365 days to make a change. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to use your time well or waste it by contaminating it with useless thoughts.
claire kim. 