Obsessive Comparison Disorder is the smallpox of our generation. Nine out of 10 doctors agree Obsessive Comparison Disorder is the leading cause of devouring a whole box of Thin Mints while watching reality TV.
So what exactly is Obsessive Comparison Disorder, what are the side effects, and more importantly, is there a cure?
Obsessive Comparison Disorder
Obsessive Comparison Disorder is our compulsion to constantly compare ourselves with others, producing unwanted thoughts and feelings that drive us to depression, consumption, anxiety and all-around joyous discontent.
Now, obviously the lure and danger of comparison didn't just start. Comparison started when sin did.
The first murder recorded in the Bible was a byproduct of comparison. Two brothers brought God an offering. God approved Abel's and disapproved of Cain's. So in Genesis 4 Cain invites his brother out to the field, and he attacks and kills him.
During Jesus' last supper with his disciples, he tells them shocking news that will forever change history—one of them is going to betray him. How do the disciples respond? Do they do whatever it takes to find and stop the culprit? No, in Luke 22 they start an argument about which one of them is the greatest disciple.
Comparison has always been around. But now with the internet and social media it's taken our comparison problem to global heights.
Just a few decades ago, you used to have to wait until your ten-year reunion to look each other up and down to see how much worse or better off you were than them. And all you had to do was fake it for one night.
Rent a BMW. Borrow a spouse and a few kids. Go on some insane weight-loss program you bought on an infomercial, along with that machine that shakes the fat out of you. Do whatever it takes. Just pull off some fabricated version of your life for one night to show everyone that your made-up life was obviously better than theirs.
Comparison has always been around. But now with the internet and social media it's taken our comparison problem to global heights.
Then you could leave your reunion and take that rented BMW straight to Little Caesar's. Two Hot-N-Ready pizzas later, life could start going back to normal.
Now with the joyous invention of online social media, who needs a ten-year reunion? We now have the opportunity to compare ourselves to everyone. Every. Single. Day. What a blessing.
Every day we are trying to pull off a branded, dazzling, filtered, edited, impossibly epic and other worldly life that no one could possibly be living.
"My job doesn't even feel like work!" "My kids couldn't be cuter, they never misbehave and they are the only ones on their team to ever score a goal!" "My spouse and I constantly walk around cheek-snuggling like we're doing in this photo!"
Yet, what effect is Obsessive Comparison Disorder having on us?