By Jill MacDonald

Comparison blinds you. It distorts your vision and robs you of clear perspective. When you're stuck in comparison, you can’t see the full truth—you only see through a narrow, often misleading lens. You get a snapshot, not the whole story.

Social media is a breeding ground for this. And I’ve been guilty of it myself.
When someone posted photos from a vacation? I was jealous.
When they shared about unexpected money they received? Jealous.
When they went on an adventure with a friend? JEALOUS.

I constantly wondered, “Why not me? Why can’t I have those things?”
That was my perspective at the time—my default outlook. But I didn’t realize I was seeing life through false beliefs. Those thoughts—unchecked—were stealing my happiness and, if I’m honest, trying to steal some of theirs too.

What I’ve come to understand is that life moves in waves.
There are upswings and downswings. No one stays in either forever.

My husband owns his own business, so I’ve seen this principle play out firsthand. When you’re self-employed, you don’t have the consistency of a paycheck every two weeks. Sometimes you’re waiting for income to come in; other times, it’s feast mode. He’d submit work to insurance companies and just have to trust the money was on its way. It wasn’t instant, but it was in process.

And that’s how life works for all of us.

We can either let jealousy cloud our vision, or we can choose to see things differently. I had to practice celebrating others even when I wasn’t where I wanted to be. And let me be honest—at first, that was hard. I used to default to “Why not me?” But over time, as I practiced genuinely being happy for others, something started shifting.

I realized that sometimes I was on the receiving end. Sometimes, success was flowing to me. Other times, I was in a dry spell. But those dry spells didn’t last forever. And when I stopped focusing on the downs and started celebrating others’ wins, something incredible happened: my lows didn’t feel as low anymore.

In fact, the more I practiced this shift in perspective, the more I noticed that:

• My downswings were shorter

• My emotions were easier to manage

• My “highs” got even higher

• And what used to be my ceiling… became my new floor

I was rising to levels I never thought possible—and it amazed me.

Now, I look forward to the future. It’s bright, full of possibility, and alive with hope. Most days, I wake up excited to be me and to be living this life.

This shift has changed me for the better.
And I believe it can change you, too—if you’re willing to embrace it and practice it.