Protect Your Heart

In order to overcome the comparison trap, I’m realizing how critical it is to protect my heart, especially in this social media age. I asked a few of my online-turned-real-life friends about overcoming comparison, and they offer some encouraging insight about protecting our hearts.

The comparison game is a tricky one. But never underestimate the power of the unfollow button. Sometimes there are certain people that I need to take time away from their feeds. It’s not healthy for me to feel certain feelings from scrolling through IG or facebook. – Laura Arbo

I try to overcome the comparison trap by simply not looking…if there’s someone that I’m struggling with (their success, followers, etc.), I simply unfollow and tell myself not to look. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but the unfollow button is my friend in those instances. – Amy Cornwell

One way that I avoid the comparison trap is that I don’t follow many food bloggers or shops on Instagram. It’s hard because I want to look at all the beautiful photography and pretty things, but I know my heart, and I get discouraged easily that I’m not “there” yet. I also want to be careful that I’m not following the crowd, but that I’m allowing God to inspire me in what I create. – Natasha Red

I get caught up in comparison all the time. Either comparing myself to other bloggers, or to others’ beauty, or to others’ popularity. I can’t help but get jealous or down on myself when I see those who are seemingly “living the dream” – that is, according to their instagram, at least. I think social media has exacerbated the comparison problem among women – it’s always been a problem for us, but now other people’s best, shiniest moments are put on display and placed at the forefront of our minds daily. We can’t escape it. What I have to tell myself sometimes is that the person behind that camera is dealing with junk in their life too. Even the happiest Instagrammer has struggles, downfalls, insecurities, and mistakes. Nobody has a perfect life–as much as we strive for perfection. For me, I have to keep this perspective–reminding myself that we are all on equal playing field; no one person is greater than the other. I have to remind myself that someone else’s success does not affect my own. And I have to keep my heart in check. When these moments of insecurity and comparison leak into my mind, I have to quickly take that thought captive and replace it with something positive about myself. Not saying I’m always good at this. But the times when I am, I find I’m a much happier person and more at peace with myself and the life I lead.  – Lottie Staggs

Never underestimate the power of unfollowing someone by not looking and protecting your heart. Everyone has hard days, even when social media might make us believe otherwise.

Do you need to protect your heart?

Love, Ali

(This is part of a series from write31days.com. To see all posts in this series, click here.)