What Running Has Taught Me About Comparison

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

Theodore Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” I’m not sure what Teddy was talking about, but he could have been talking about anything. It’s human nature to compare ourselves to others. Comparison is useful in a lot of ways, most tangibly, to measure our abilities for survival within a social hierarchy. There is a very famous social comparison theory dating back to the 1950’s that was proposed by psychologist Leon Festinger. The theory suggests that humans look to others as a standard to measure their own abilities and self-image. However, we typically compare ourselves to people within our social circle or status, rather than those outside of it. So if someone within a similar social group outperforms us, we might feel jealous because their success triggers our insecurities by making us feel inferior and inadequate. But when someone performs worse than us in any way, it might make us feel better and *may* boost our self-esteem. It’s not altogether lovely, but it is human nature.

I’m taking a temporary break from running to heal some minor overuse injuries. I haven’t taken a real break in over a year, so I shouldn’t be surprised that my body was kindly telling me to rest. But runners don’t like resting. We like movement and adrenaline and air. And even though I had a great year…