We often compare our lives with what we see of others. We look on social media and are captivated by the glossed over images of other people’s lives. We see the best of their life strategically put together to create exactly what they desire you to see. Think about it. All the posts you put on social media are usually moments of your life you’re most proud of. Hardly ever are we willing to show ourselves in a down trodden moment.

Remember that our online persona is not 100% of what our lives entail.

You see, everyone has those ‘behind the scenes’ moments. We don’t usually want the public to see all the imperfections and struggles we experience. Very few people are that raw and open. For most, we reserve those moments for only a select few in our closest circles.

I like to compare the ‘highlight reel’ phenomenon to the world of television and film production. Have you ever realized how much work goes into producing a film, television show or even a 30 second commercial? The average 30-second to 1 minute television commercial can take eight hours to film. That’s not counting the additional hours needed to edit all that footage down to one minute or less. So all those ‘imperfect, behind the scenes moments’ are not what everyone sees. You only get the highlights that put the product or service in the best light.

Our lives are the same way. We all have behind the scenes moments. We all have amazing highlights too. What can you do to stop feeling bad and comparing your behind the scenes to someone’s highlight reel? You start by remembering everyone has struggles. Even those you think have it easy. Every success story has a series of failures. Remember that your perceived failures are part of the process in developing your important moments.

An article in an August 2010 issue of Psychology Today spoke of the dangers of comparing yourself to others citing, “The trouble is that when we enter the state of comparison-making, our seeing is distorted. We become blind to our own value, while devaluing or dismissing the real worth we have.”  This is so true.

Don’t dismiss your own accomplishments because you think another person’s is greater. You are just as valuable and guess what, the person you might be envying…could very well be impressed with your highlight reel too.