Comparison is an extremely powerful form of envy and deceit. Whether it's on a lower level, such as comparing yourself to your friends, or a higher one, such as comparing yourself to celebrities, it still does the same amount of damage.

Comparison can tear apart friendships, relationships, households, workplaces, and identities. It shows no compassion or restriction, and can be hard to detect, confront, and control. Unfortunately, it is something that takes many people time and patience to overcome. But once you do, your life will never be the same.

The spirit of comparison comes in many different shapes and forms. For most, it's outright, where they are always comparing their financial, social, or physical status with others doing better than them in those categories of life. For others, it's a spiritual or mental thing, where you may be comparing your happiness to others. Either way, comparison prevents us from taking a step back and instead of acknowledging what we don't have, discovering ways to better ourselves in order to get where we want to be.

I always found myself comparing my current stage of life to others. In layman's terms, when I would see someone making successful moves in their life, I would always question why I wasn't making any. The biggest issue with that for me was those individuals I was comparing myself to were much older and in a completely different phase of life than I was.

Ever since I can remember. I have always hung around people older than me. My cousins are older, a lot of my high school friends were older, and friends from extracurriculars were older. Naturally, I considered us as equals because I really didn't know any better. So when they progressed in life, I thought I was supposed to as well.

It wasn't until college that I really realized I was making an impossible comparison. When I stopped comparing, I noticed that I began congratulating myself more. Not to say that I wasn't before, but the difference was that it was genuine. I was genuinely able to be happy for my friends and their accomplishments, and sometimes I was more excited than they were! That is when I knew I was getting better at focusing on my own journey.

That is also when I learned the difference between comparison and inspiration.

It is perfectly fine to have people you look up to and aspire to be like, but make sure that they are an influence and not an idol. Also, remember that your journey is specific and unique to YOU. Only then will you be able to truly learn from life's lessons and radiate positive energy to others.

It is not an easy process. Sometimes I still catch myself being ungrateful for what I have and my accomplishments thus far. I just try to remind myself that it could be much worse and that there is no need to rush.

Patience has definitely been my biggest fight, both physically and mentally.

I have learned that life will move on with or without you. You can choose to sit and sulk in envious misery, or you can push through it and keep working on yourself. I choose to keep working on myself and uplifting those around me, and I think you should too.