The Comparison Trap Creates Losers

Copyright: anaken2012 / 123RF Stock Photo

July 1 is a big day in sports since many NBA (National Basketball Association) players become free agents. Which means they are looking for contracts with sweet deals and lots of money. Some have landed huge contracts, including guys you have never heard of.

I even mentioned to Carol that the amount of money is unreal when compared to some of the contracts in the NFL (National Football League), and football is by far a more popular and lucrative sport in this country.

And wouldn’t you know it?

NFL players have noticed and begun to compare. Now their huge contracts are considered peanuts to some of the newer ones in the NBA.

Before July 1 the NFL players considered themselves winners. Now they are losers. That’s what comparing does.

There is always someone who is faster, smarter, richer, prettier, talenter–OK, I made up that last word, but you get the picture.

One NFL player even tweeted that he had picked the wrong sport.

And you will do the same thing. You will think, “I should have chosen……….as my career.”

The fact is when you compare, you will never measure up.

No wonder the Bible warns against comparing. “Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding” (2 Corinthians 10:12, ESV).

No wonder depression is at an all time high. We are comparing our lives with the highlight reels of our friends and neighbors on Facebook, Twitter, or in life in general. It may happen in sports July 1, but it invades our lives when someone we know gets married, gets a new car, lands a new job, or takes an exotic vacation.

And we can’t catch a break. Or so it seems.

On June 30 NFL players went to bed as winners; when they went to bed on July 1, they felt like losers.

Avoid the trap. Avoid comparison or you too will go to bed at night feeling like a loser.