Life is challenging for everyone

People need to stop comparing their life problems to others’, because everyone has different circumstances

By The Times of India // illustration by Sammie Volkamer

People often compare their life challenges to others.

Sammie Volkamer, JAG editor in chief
January 7, 2020

In today’s society, people constantly compare their lives to others’. When walking through the halls of Mill Valley, I often hear, “Well at least they don’t have to do this” or “Their life is so easy; I wish my life was that easy.” 

It is easy for people to get down on themselves believing that their life is so much harder than everyone else’s. I think we all have gotten to that point where we don’t understand why others aren’t experiencing the same things we are struggling with. 

In reality, everyone is always struggling with something. Whether they are dealing with the loss of a close family member or not being able to get their ACT score up to what they need to to get into college, people’s problems should be not be invalidated. 

I believe it is common for people to tear each other down by telling someone else they shouldn’t be feeling the way that they are. Although it might not seem like the situation is hard for one person, it could be a tragedy for another. 

By tearing someone else down, one is just hurting themself even more. If someone is invalidating someone else’s feelings they are probably masking their own problems or making their own problems seem more significant. 

The effect of social media and the internet amplifies this issue. We follow our favorite influencers on platforms like Instagram and Twitter and see their life from a set of pictures and/or quotes. Because we aren’t able to see their entire life story, people often forget to realize that everyone has problems of their own. 

One might think that the richest businessmen, like Warren Buffet or Jeff Bezos, have perfect lives. This isn’t true. Although they might not be having problems with their finances, they could be struggling with other issues that we don’t know about. This also applies to regular middle class individuals.

Most of the time if someone is dealing with a serious problem, they aren’t going to be public about it. Therefore, there is no reason to believe someone else has an easier life than another because no one really knows the whole story.

To help solve this issue, people should stop comparing their lives to others. Instead of tearing each other down, we should start being supportive individuals and positive influences in other people’s lives.

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