17th March 2025
We all know we’re not supposed to compare ourself to others. Comparison is the thief of joy, as they say, and for once an old saying holds up, Envy is misery!
My entire life changed when I realized one truth:
The people I read books and stories about are never people I would want to trade lives with.
Everything in life comes at a price.
The people that society celebrates, admires, and applauds generally tend to be the ones who have achieved incredible financial success—but we’re quick to ignore the real price of that success.
What tradeoffs or sacrifices did that person have to make to achieve that “success” you’re admiring?
What relationships fell by the wayside?
What health and stress impacts did they endure?
What freedom did they give up?
What happiness did they delay?
The next time you find yourself comparing your life to someone else—admiring their success, or even feeling envious of it—ask yourself these questions.
Sometimes the life that looks like a great deal on the surface is a ripoff when you dig a little bit deeper.
So whenever you notice you’re feeling envious of someone, here’s a new model to try. It’s very simple:
Ask yourself if you’d trade your life for theirs.
That’s it. Would you give everything of yours for everything of theirs?
Beware, however! You can’t just trade for their success or money or beauty—or whatever features you find compelling—you have to trade for everything.
Whatever hardship they’ve known in their life is now yours. Whatever consequences they experience from previous bad decisions they’ve made are yours. You own their wealth, status, and power—and also their shame, regret, and anything else that you might not want to pick up.
Similarly, just as you’d inherit everything from someone else in such a complete trade, you’d also give away everything of yours.
The more I thought about trading places, the less I wanted to swap with anyone—and that realization feels comforting!
Maybe, it’s time we start celebrating a different kind of success story & stay blessed forever.