Excerpt: Comparison is a crutch. These 17 Humble the Poet quotes about comparing yourself to others will show you why (and how to stop).
Introduction: Comparison is a Crutch
Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who somebody else is today. As Humble mentions in the quotes below, you’re going to meet people who have more money; who have more beautiful bodies; who are more popular; who are more intelligent than you. What you can’t do when you meet them is compare where you are on your journey to where they are on their journey.
As tempting as it might be, the mindset of comparison will always leave you short because everyone you meet will always have something that you don’t have. And if you play that out over the course of enough interactions, you’ll be left feeling like everybody is better than you—or worse, that you’re not worthy or good enough—and that, just simply, isn’t true.
Humble explains that, “Everyone [you] meet will always have something [you] don’t have.” This means, coincidingly, that you have something that everyone you meet doesn’t have. Identifying what it is, however, isn’t as important as learning how to cultivate it and nurture it so that you can grow it to be the best it can be. Why? Because trying to identify what you have that everyone you meet doesn’t have is taking you right back to the process of comparison that you are trying to avoid!
You’ll find some things that are better for you and some things that are better for them, but who cares? You can’t control another person’s innate aptitudes, potential, or talent. You can’t control how they decide to cultivate those innate attributes. You can’t take their upbringing from them, learn the lessons they’ve learned, or grasp the concepts that they’ve grasped. These are the things that no one else can teach us and these are the things that only we can learn by living our own lives.
NEW In The Shop: Don’t Let The Tame Ones Tell You How To Live [Poster]
Why We ♥ It: Some of the best advice I (Matt here) ever got was: don’t take life advice from people who aren’t living a life you want to live and don’t take criticism from people you wouldn’t go to for advice. I created this poster to act as a reminder to listen more closely to our role models and less closely to our critics, trolls, and tamed-comfort-zone-hugger acquaintances. It’s also a perfect gift for the outdoor adventurer, travel enthusiast, or solo explorer (or soon to be). Available in print or digital download. 👇🏼
...Want to advertise your book, product, or service? Send inquiries to matt@movemequotes.com.
Below, you will find our complete list of Humble the Poet quotes about comparing yourself to others—and how to stop. This list was specifically curated from Humble’s book, Things No One Else Can Teach Us, and brings a focused look at an issue that is widely prevalent in the world today. It’s a topic that Humble intertwines throughout his book and comes back to time and again (as you’ll see from the page references after each quote below).
My hope is that by bringing some of the main ideas together for you into one, seamless flow you will be able to internalize the message and leave this post feeling good about yourself, where you are on your journey, and how you can move forward without the crutches of comparison. Let us know in the comment section below what you think and without further ado, I turn it over to Humble to take it from here! Enjoy :)
The List: 17 Humble the Poet Quotes about Comparing Yourself to Others (and How To Stop)
“We see ourselves in the stories of others and can free ourselves by writing the story of our own lives.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 5)
“When things got difficult for me, I naturally painted myself as the victim, hoping to receive some attention and compassion from others, and it worked. What I didn’t realize is that other people could take only so much before my energy became draining. We all have friends who act like Eeyore, constantly moping and complaining about how the universe has conspired against them, and over time, we find ourselves not wanting to be around them as much. This only reinforces their belief that they’re on their own, making them double down on their self-victimization.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 219)
“Self-pity is a tricky thing—an addiction like any other, often birthed from our need to connect and bond with something or somebody. When we feel sorry for ourselves, we decide that no one understands us, and that lets us create a temporary connection to… drumroll… ourselves. It’s one of the most convenient ways to feel a connection—by finding a reason to feel sorry for ourselves.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 230)
“I was comparing myself to everyone and anyone I encountered. If I was making music and met a well-off stockbroker, my mind would ask, ‘Why aren’t you selling stocks?’ When money got better, but I met someone with a beautiful body, I’d ask, ‘Why aren’t you spending more time in the gym?’ I would identify all the gaps in my life on the basis of whomever I crossed paths with. That’s a dangerous thing because everyone we meet will always have something we don’t have.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 121)
“We judge people because it’s easier than what we should be doing: trying to understand them. When we understand, we’re less reactive and more compassionate. Trying to understand someone or something requires much more effort than judging, but it’s so much more enriching in the long run.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 163)
“Power and blame go hand in hand, so if we want to find the power to improve our situation, we’re going to have to take responsibility, no matter how much others did us dirty. Taking the time to see how we contribute to our unfortunate circumstances is the first step to turning things around. Comparing ourselves to others and spending excessive time on social media only fuels our self-pity, and the more aware we are of those triggers, the better off we’ll be. Pointing fingers and taking offense are also the language of self-victimization, and we need to recognize when theirs becomes a habit we can’t kick. The secret to dealing with much of the bullshit life throws us is self-sufficiency, which means finding ways to own the bullshit, even when there are plenty of other people who should be sharing the blame.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 220)
“Sometimes we’ll say small things to someone and they’ll lose their sh*t. It’s not because they’re crazy—it’s because whatever we said was the last straw. People walk around collecting moments of stress, and if left unaddressed, stress will pile up until they hit their limit, and then Kaboom! We’ve all had our own stories of hitting our breaking point and letting the wrong person have it. Those experiences, as unfortunate as they are, also allow us to find compassion when it happens to others.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 225)
“As adults, we don’t need to empathize just with those people we harm; we also need to empathize with those who harm us. That means we have to suspend judgment and focus more on understanding as much as we can.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 185)
“Social media is a playground for our insecurities and self-pity. It not only makes us feel like we’re not enough, but it chips away at our confidence, encouraging us to lash out in uninspiring ways. I don’t want to feel insignificant in comparison to others, and I don’t want to belittle others to make myself feel better, so I took responsibility to reduce how often I expose myself to those triggers, which are highly addictive.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 225)
“Reducing my social media usage has made me more aware of how addicted I was to the micro-gratification it gave me, and it has reduced the number of times I beat up on myself. I was no longer falling into the rabbit hole of other people’s carefully curated presentations of their lives and then comparing those presentations to the whole of myself—at least not as much as I was doing that before. And I instantly started feeling better.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 225)
“I decided that if someone wasn’t helping me get to where I needed to be, then that person most likely was getting in my way. I didn’t make any proclamations or write anybody a Dear John letter, thus liberating myself from their harmful clutches. I didn’t say a thing to anybody; I just stopped engaging with people who I felt were standing in my way rather than helping me and I began to focus more on myself.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 16)
“Look into yourself and try to figure out the big stress that is magnetically attracting all the tiny stresses to feed your volcano. When we address the big ones, the small ones can slide off our shoulders instead of building up into something they don’t need to be. If something minor is setting you off more than normal, it may be a sign that the big one is not far behind. Find a quiet place, get comfortable, and ask the uncomfortable question: “What’s really bugging me?” Whatever it is, it’s important to be the archaeologist and start digging inward to discover what’s down there. You’ll quickly realize that problems have layers, and many of them don’t have other people’s names attached to them. This practice of digging deeper and peeling away layers is important as it’ll help us find the root of many of our problems—which is usually about fear.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 252)
“You can’t be yourself if you don’t know who you are. So how do you know who you are? Everyone is a gooey batter of both nature and nurture, and every time shit hits the fan in our lives, we have an opportunity to get to know ourselves a bit better. It’s an exhausting experience, but it’s enriching. We learn about ourselves through all of our interactions with the world, both good and bad. So with everything you do, think about how it shapes who you are, and think about how who you are shapes your experience of everything you do.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 57)
“The more deeply we dive into our own stories, the more we feel like we’re going through it alone. But I’m here to remind you that you’re not alone, even though we each have to do the work ourselves. The deeper we dive, the more beauty we can discover as well. No on else shares our unique experiences, and therefore no one else can show us the light at the end of the tunnels we dig; we can only share our stories and remind ourselves that we already have everything we need to find that light. These are the things no one else can teach us.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 6)
“Loneliness can be quelled quickly as we develop the most important relationship we have in our lives: the one with ourselves. Leaving the pack and going off script may reduce the number of people we have around us and limit the number of activities we participate in with others, but it’ll save us years of spinning our wheels finding no fulfillment in a cookie-cutter life. People every day choose the red pill and embrace the discomforts that come with straying from the norm. Spending time with other people who devote their lives to self-discovery will only enhance how far you can take your journey. We are a vast and endless universe.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 87)
“We aren’t victims of life—we are life. We have power over our efforts, which gives us power to adjust our sails depending on which way things are blowing. Self-pity serves as a barrier to those sails and sets us on a one-way path downward. Our problems may not be our fault, but they are definitely our responsibility, so ask yourself how well excessive self-pity and seeking pity help with that responsibility. The more we exercise our power to turn our days around, the more the tools to help us will find us.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 261)
“The decisions we can’t make with confidence end up being made for us.”
Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 56)
Humble the Poet Picture Quotes to Share:
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Why We ♥ It: Some of the best advice I (Matt here) ever got was: don’t take life advice from people who aren’t living a life you want to live and don’t take criticism from people you wouldn’t go to for advice. I created this poster to act as a reminder to listen more closely to our role models and less closely to our critics, trolls, and tamed-comfort-zone-hugger acquaintances. It’s also a perfect gift for the outdoor adventurer, travel enthusiast, or solo explorer (or soon to be). Available in print or digital download. 👇🏼
...Want to advertise your book, product, or service? Send inquiries to matt@movemequotes.com.
Written by Matt Hogan
Founder of MoveMe Quotes. On a mission to help busy people do inner work—for better mental health; for healing; for personal growth. Find me on Twitter / IG / Medium. I also share daily insights here. 🌱
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