Journaling Prompts for Constant Comparison to Others
Comparison is human, but the kind we do now—scrolling through curated, optimized versions of other people's lives—is something genuinely new and genuinely corrosive. It's almost impossible to compare yourself to what someone has chosen to show publicly and come out with an accurate read of anything. And yet the comparison happens, and it hurts, and it can quietly erode your satisfaction in things that would otherwise feel genuinely good. Writing about comparison isn't about being grateful instead. It's about understanding what the comparison is telling you—what you actually want, what you actually fear.
Journaling Prompts
Who do you compare yourself to most often, and in what domain—career, body, relationships, money, lifestyle? What specifically do you imagine they have that you lack?
What do you actually know about that person's inner life, their struggles, the cost of what they appear to have? What are you assuming is true that you have no evidence for?
What does the comparison tell you about what you want? Strip away the envy and look at the information underneath: is there something you genuinely want that you've been dismissing or delaying?
When you are most satisfied with your own life—not performing it for anyone, just actually experiencing it—what does that look like? How different is it from the lives you compare yourself to?
What would you do with the time and energy that comparison currently occupies? What could you build, enjoy, or invest in if the comparing quieted down?