Beware the Compare

Here, we discuss why “Comparison is the thief of joy and 4 easy steps to stop comparison for good. Beware the compare today!

Picture the scene: You have just completed a full week on the New You Total Food Replacement (TFR) plan. (Yas!) You drank the water; made the packs and you are about to jump on the scales for your weekly weigh in. Drum roll please…5lbs off in a week! How amazing! Excited, you log in to Secret Slimmers, The New You Plan’s customer support group, to share your fab news. Only as you are scrolling through, you see that another slimmer has lost 11lbs, and another has lost 9lbs and suddenly your 5lbs doesn’t seem quite so amazing anymore… STOP! You are about to fall into the compare and despair trap.

Most of us have fallen prey to the trappings of compare and despair conditioning at one time or another. In our social media world, triggers can pop up at any moment of the day.

You open Facebook and learn that another person in your group of friends is getting married, when you haven’t been on a date in FOREVER, or you flick to Instagram and realise that an old school friend has just picked his new Land Rover while your 10 year old ‘run around’ has failed its MOT… again. You know that it’s not helpful to compare yourself to others, but you can’t look away. Deeper and deeper down the comparison rabbit hole you go until you generally just feel pretty miserable.

The question is, why do we compare ourselves to others? And, if comparison is knocking us down rather than building us up, how do we get a handle on it?

At New You HQ we realise that while comparison can open the door to self-improvement, it can just as easily open the door to self-sabotage. By actively comparing yourself to others, rather than focusing on how well you are living up to your own standards, even the simplest of social interactions can become a slippery slope that leads towards self-doubt and the treat cupboard.

Comparison tricks us into thinking that a win for someone else is a direct loss for us. This simply isn’t true. Every time you compare yourself to someone else you miss a chance to back yourself. Instead, you disregard your own efforts. That’s part of the reason it feels like it really hurts.

So how do we switch off the compare button? Don’t worry, we’ve got you.

Here’s how to stop comparing yourself to others in 4 easy steps.

1. Don’t try to bury the feeling

The impulse is to pretend feelings of envy aren’t happening, but this can be really damaging in the long term. If your comparison thinking is running riot, try to halt the negative spiral by acknowledging the thoughts and then moving on.

2. Decide what you want and where you want to go

This is a must when we are in comparison mode – sometimes we compare ourselves against things we don’t even want. Now is the time to assess what you actually want from life. You know like that time when you had feelings of envy over a friend’s family camping trip before realising that 1: You hate camping and 2: Would rather eat your own head than sleep in a tent with 2 children.

3. Take action towards your own goals

If you truly want to reach your goal weight by the end of the year, what does that plan look like for you?  How will you implement that plan? Do you need to commit to the New You TFR plan for a month? Do you need to order more packs? Perhaps start increasing your daily steps? Plan out what you can do, proactively, and then do it. This will cut off the oxygen to comparison because you’re focusing on yourself – not getting sucked into observing the lives of others. 

4. Remember that you are driving in your own lane

Sometimes you will be ‘ahead’ and going at a good pace towards your own goals and milestones. Other times you will feel like nothing is happening and you will feel stuck or confused. This can really trigger comparison, and at these times, we have to dig deep and trust the timing of our lives. Ask yourself ‘What’s my next step forward?’. Keep repeating and answering that question and you will transform your health and your life.

Start Your TFR Journey Today!

Getting started is the first step in your journey to a brand New You! To help you understand fully how our plan works, our Get Started page was designed specifically for people new to the plan.

Head over to our site where you’ll find tonnes of important information including how our plan works, the science behind it, loads of top tips, information on our meals, as well as real customer testimonials.

Click here to visit our Get Started page!