Envy is the Enemy of Happiness
Summary: Competition and comparison should only be with yourself. Stay in your own lane, and get better every single day at being YOU.
As the entrepreneur and investor Naval Ravikant described it, “The enemy of peace of mind is expectations drilled into you by society and other people”.
Too many people nowadays are mimetically doing what everyone else is doing. Especially within high achieving high school students in Australia, there is some expectation that you will study Medicine or Law.
It is true that completion of either degree will allow for some guarantee of significant career stability and success, due to their perceived amount of prestige. However, many students neglect the intense nature of both professions; a career in Medicine means 5-7 years in Med School, a 1 year internship, 2-5+ years of residency and then years more of being a registrar to become a specialist. Basically, you’re committing to 12+ more years of formal education and insane working hours - I hear about junior doctors working for 80+ hours. Similar to medicine, law comprises of many more years of training, long hours and tough competition.
Don’t get me wrong, I think these are fantastic careers that would lead to an insane quality of living, are fulfilling and highly respected within society. Some of my closest friends and people who acted as mentors for me study med/law. If you decide to study medicine/law or are already in medical/law school, I give you my highest praise; the world needs your talent and you’re dedicating your life to helping others, which is among some of the most admirable things a person can do.
But I think that you should also recognise, and follow your own ambition; what’s not alright is if you decide to study medicine or law without considering all the other options and the bigger picture of what you’re comitting to. I believe that your youth, in high school and university is the time to explore and discover what you truly enjoy. Take risks and don’t do what everyone else does. Find your own unique path exploring what you love, and once you find that thing that makes you tick, pursue it with a relentless passion and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Never compare yourself to others - envy is the enemy of happiness. Besides, no one’s journey and circumstances will be exactly the same as yours, so why bother with comparison? If anything, try your best to learn from the highs and lows from their experiences and make some informed judgements on how you can become better yourself. That being said, there is a counterargument that was brought up by one of my good friends upon reading an initial version of this post, that is, “envy is also ur biggest motivation in some cases… i mean if there werent like better ppl out there, i wouldnt even study”, which is a fair point. I think it does depend on the type of person you are and what works best for you.
It’s been years for me, and I don’t think I’m even close to finding my true life passions. But that’s okay. Everyone has their own journey.
As another one of my good friends said, ‘u can flunk every exam and that's less of an L than getting forced into med’.
Another one of my mates said this: ‘It’s after a lot of shitty years, realising that my happiness doesn’t derive from fulfilling expectations of others. [Instead], it’s about fulfilling expectations of yourself’.
Life is single player. The only person you have to be better than is the person you were yesterday.
Live for yourself. If you don’t choose a path, life chooses one for you.
Comparison kills creativity; a Crayola may complain that it is not sharp enough, and a pencil may complain that it is not colourful enough. Never compare yourself with others, and be the absolute best at being yourself, because that’s who you’re in competition with.
