The Art of Self-Appreciation over Comparison

No one can excel at being you like you can.

I’ll start this post today with 9 Quotes I’ve curated on “comparing yourself to others”. It’s great for context, as you’ll read my words after the quotes and get a sense of what this post is about.

"Comparison is the thief of joy." - Theodore Roosevelt

"Comparison is an act of violence against the self." - Iyanla Vanzant

"The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday." - Unknown

"Comparison kills creativity and joy." - Brene Brown

"Comparison with others is a recipe for unhappiness." - Bill Gates

"You are unique, and that is your power. Don't diminish it by comparing yourself to others." - Unknown

"Comparison breeds discontentment. Be inspired by others, but be true to yourself." - Karen Salmansohn

"Comparison is the root of all feelings of inferiority. The moment you begin examining other people's strengths against your most obvious weaknesses, your self-esteem starts to crumble." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Comparing yourself to others is an endless journey with no destination. Focus on your own path." - Unknown

So, I’ve stopped comparing myself to other artists.

How?

It’s not anything I’ve done, it’s just an understanding that comparison is not helping me whatsoever. I’d scroll through Facebook and Instagram and I’d get pangs of jealousy through comparing my work to others. Not helpful. I’d get genuine feelings of admiration at times, but it was mainly thinking that my work wasn’t as good as “theirs”. Or even judging mine as better but thinking “Why are they getting all of this attention?” and I wasn’t.

Now and again I enjoy watching art documentaries. When I was sick I watched so many, it kept me focused on the subject of art when I was too ill to create anything. It was keeping me going. But now, I don’t watch as many, I recall starting a Picasso documentary and thinking to myself “I don’t need to be inspired by Picasso to create my art” and I turned it off.

By all means, watch art documentaries if you wish, look at as much as you can for inspiration. It’s all about context, my context was that I was aimlessly scrolling and feeling bad for it. So now, I believe in my own art, I get inspired by my own art, I dig deeper into the expression and lose myself. See how that’s a world of a difference from feelings of inferiority.

What I’m trying to express here is that it’s so easy to compare yourself to others. It’s rife in this day and age, but our saving grace is that we can choose where we put our attention.

I choose to put mine into my own art. Sure, I may watch the odd art documentary and visit an art exhibition for purposes of enjoyment, but my art is my own and it’s one of a kind.

So is yours.

So are you.

Thanks for reading.

SLART