Someone in my neighborhood is driving a snazzy yellow Lamborghini. You can’t help but notice it, especially when they keep revving the engine when stopped at lights.
I may not be a big car person, but the sleek lines and deep rumble of that engine were calling out to me.
I imagined the owner must be someone special and started to feel embarrassed about my practical little Toyota. They must be more successful, better at manifesting, and more deserving of life’s pleasures than I am.
The story in my head kept getting bigger and bigger as I compared myself to the Lamborghini owner and found myself lacking.
This is what we do. We compare ourselves to others and then beat ourselves up when we think we don’t measure up. Which is often. Too often.
The truth is, most of the time what we are looking at is an image or illusion. We see people at their best or how they want to be perceived, not when they are home alone feeling insecure.
We imagine their lives are more grand because of their material possessions, not realizing they are scared to death because they are deep in debt. We see them as having qualities that make them better than we are, completely missing that it is only a front they are projecting so we won’t see how worthless they really feel.
It’s time to stop comparing our normal to other people’s ideal. It’s time to stop comparing at all. It only sidetracks us from being our best selves and living our best lives. That is what is real and meaningful.
As for the yellow Lamborghini, I spotted it not too long ago several car lengths ahead as we were going up a hill. I assumed it would speed off leaving me in the wake of it’s exhaust, but something surprising happened.
The pretty yellow Lamborghini with the deep rumbling engine started choking and sputtering and the driver had to pull over to the side of the road. The Lamborghini could not make it up the hill.
It wasn’t all I had imagined it to be. My story was an illusion offering me another lesson (of many) in the folly of comparing myself to others.
Unfortunately, I did not handle it with as much grace as I would have liked.
I hate to admit it, but I felt energized by the Lamborghini’s failure. When the driver looked up, he saw me speeding by in my little Toyota with a huge grin on my face.
Photo credit: A. Wahl
Linda, this story made me smile since I’m sure I would have whizzed by the stalled Lamborghini with the same attitude and grin.
We know that comparing ourselves to others is folly, and yet we do it. I guess it has to do with being human. My goal is to catch myself in these situations and remind myself of the illusion and instead reach for my higher spiritual self image.
Thanks for this reminder.
Yes, we are all human and this seems to be part of our human journey. I like that I have an image of the Lamborghini that I can use to remind myself when I feel tempted to compare.
It still makes me smile and I just realized I have not seen the car since that day.
The most important lesson I learned in life is everyone gets up and puts their pants on one leg at a time. Even though I look up to everyone over 10 years old, I also consider them equals.
As a child and young adult there were times when if I didn’t find an edible plant of snare an animal I didn’t eat. At one point in my life I owned three houses, drove a Caddy, and had $100,000 in the bank. This I never felt made me better than anyone else.
From the child in a third world country digging through the dump looking for scraps to eat or sell, to the “high earning CEO’s” we are all the same. We are all just people making our was as we are spending our limited time on earth.