How Keeping Up With the Joneses Can Make You Feel Less Than Enough

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” – Theodore Roosevelt

It’s that time of year.

Everyone is posting their vacation pictures on social media or sharing them via text. Their toes are dug into the sand, their sunset is magical, their smiles are big and their skin is perfectly, freshly sun-kissed.

It makes the room you’re staring at this Memorial Day (or on this typical Monday if you’re reading outside the U.S. today…) feel cold, dank and depressing.

Or maybe it makes you feel lonely, because you are the ONLY person in the WORLD without someone to vacation with!

Or, potentially the most devastating, long-term consequence, is that it causes you to begin planning your own too-extravagant vacation… even though the current state of your bank account begs you to cut expenses.

My friend, the thief of joy is comparison. When we compare ourselves to the Instagrammed lives of others: What we have could never be enough; we will always feel the need for more.

If we don’t stop comparing ourselves to the unrealistic “reality” others post on social media – it won’t matter how much we get or how far we come. It will never be enough.

(Years ago, on a hiking trip, I experienced this truth about unmet expectations. I had a clear, epic picture in my mind of what I would see on this trip. I hiked and hiked and hiked…. and no vista could live up to the mighty expectation I’d set. Ultimately, I missed out on experiencing the glorious view that I did have, because I was distracted looking for the one I’d imagined. Get the full story on my Truth about False Summits blog here.)

Rachel Cruze Helps Us Refocus on ALL We Have

My friend, Rachel Cruze, who recently wrote Love Your Life, Not Theirs (this blog is named after her book because it’s a great reminder to help us live inspired each day) joined me on the Live Inspired Podcast. She is an expert at helping us to love the life we have by better managing our finances and ending the comparison game.

During our time together, Rachel shared that, “We need to see that the stuff we’re gathering up with credit cards is not making us happy.”

Isn’t this so true? We see happier people, posting photos with bigger cars, boats, vacations, engagement rings, five-year-olds’ birthday parties… and it makes us feel like what we have isn’t enough.

And as long as we continue comparing, the truth is, it never will be.

Today, I challenge you to end the comparison game, remember what you have is enough and choose to love the life you lead.

Join me and Rachel Cruze on Live Inspired Podcast Ep. 83 to learn how.

And remember that Today is your day.

Live Inspired.

This article was originally published on #1 National Bestselling Author of ON FIRE and Inspirational Speaker John O’Leary’s Monday Motivation blog. John inspires the R.L. Thomas Service, Inc. and we’re honored to share his inspiration with you! Get his Monday Motivation in your inbox here and enjoy his daily inspiration on Facebook, Twitter & YouTube.

You can see all of John’s Monday Motivation posts here: http://johnolearyinspires.com/tag/blog/