bryan

Self comparison, the need to determine our worth based on how we perceive others, is a thought process which undoubtedly we've all been through. Comparing and subsequently evaluating ourselves, can possibly result in unhealthy behaviors to rectify the way we view ourselves against others. Such evaluations can lead to overly competitive attitudes towards those we deem superior, internalizing ideologies that if we change specific behaviors, we could be like those we admire. However, such thoughts can snowball into consistent feelings of guilt and dissatisfaction in ourselves, with research showing strong links between body-related comparison and disordered eating. Constantly comparing our dissimilarities, with a potentially already distorted view of ourselves and our self worth, will only enlarge the frustration that we are not living up to the unwritten standards we've made for ourselves. Comparison only becomes a hindrance when our motivation turns into obsessions as to why w...

By definition, perfectionism is a personality trait characterized by setting high standards and the inability to settle for anything less than flawless. Accompany this need for perfect with constant self evaluation and critical analysis of multiple aspects of performance, and you end up with a crippling mentality, inevitably ending with unsustainable thoughts and stagnant behavior. Perfectionism leads to an endless and impossible cycle of redoing whatever it may be that you’re striving to be perfect, and ultimately failing because perfection is impossible to find. Over the duration of our life, we formulate our ambitions by admiring others, and aim to duplicate what we assume is perfection. Our ambitions are ignited by greatness, yet what we try to create ends up being what we would consider mediocrity. We ignore the journey it took to create the end product, and presume the outcome came with ease and little effort, and our inability to emulate such perfection is a downfall we cannot...