Comparison is the Thief of Joy

One of my favorite quotes is, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Its simple profoundness reminds us that we will never reach joy if we constantly compare ourselves to others.

It’s extremely hard in sports to not let comparison control your mind. You are compared in various ways each time you show up to play. From overall team comparison to individual skill level, we are picked apart with a fine-tooth comb.

Comparison in sports isn’t something that will go away; the only thing we can do is try and control how we let it affect us. One of the main adverse side effects of comparison is the result of not wanting to try for fear of failure. If we don’t try, we can’t fail; if we don’t fail, we can’t be compared negatively to others. In addition to not trying, we can get so caught up in what other people are doing that we forget to do anything ourselves.

Galatians informs us that we will have to carry our own load. This means it doesn’t matter what other people do around us. We can’t let what others are doing terrify us into not trying or being distracted by what they are doing. We must continue walking forward, work on what we have and not be distracted by what others are doing. If we focus on what we need to do to grow and learn, we can achieve joy in our progress without the comparison to where another might be.

We can waste enormous amounts of time examining what other people are doing, but we must remember to work on what we are doing. We must choose to put blinders on and focus only on what we can control, which is our load in this life.