The Futility of Comparing Yourself to Others 把自己与他人相比是徒劳
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One of the biggest reasons we’re not content with ourselves and our lives is that we compare ourselves to other people.
我们无法与自己和自己的生活连接的最大原因是，我们总爱拿自己和别人相比。
Picture it: you see photos of what someone else is doing on Facebook and think your life isn’t exciting enough. You see someone else who has a cool job and think you’re not doing that great in your career. You see someone with a hotter body, and feel bad about yours. You see someone who has created an awesome business, and think you’re not doing enough. You read about people who are traveling the world, learning languages, going to exotic resorts and restaurants, and wonder why you’re not.
想象这样一幅画面：你看到别人在脸书上贴出的一张照片，然后你发现自己的生活真是不够激动人心。看到某人在从事一份很酷的工作，而自己却在工作中表现得不够好。看见别人拥有傲人的身材，而自己的身材却很差。看到某人拥有了一份很棒的生意，自己却做得不够。读到一些文章，关于其他人去世界各地旅游，学习语言，在异国度假胜地和餐馆，你会想自己为什么不是这样。
Of course, you’re comparing your reality to an ideal, a fantasy.
当然，你是在用自己的现实和一个理想、幻想对比。
It’s not a comparison that makes sense. You can’t compare apples to apples when you compare yourself to anyone else. Which means it’s a dumb comparison — why would you compare how tangy an orange is compared to a beach? They’re not similar things.
这并不是一个合理的比较。你拿自己和别人比较时，并不像是拿苹果和苹果比较。苹果之间的比较是无声的。所以你为什么要急于拿一个橘子和海滩比较呢？它们根本是不同的东西。
Let’s take an example: I’m out running in the park, and I see someone running past me. Obviously he’s a faster runner, and better than me! Oh, that makes me feel horrible about myself as a runner!
让我再举一个例子：我在公园里跑步，看到另一个人跑过我。当然，他是一个跑步超快的人，比我跑得快。哦，这让我作为一个跑步者，觉得很不舒服。
Except I can’t compare myself to that faster runner, because I don’t have all the information. I don’t know:
其实，我不应该拿自己和这个跑步很快的人比较，因为我没有足够的信息。我并不知道下面这些内容：
* how far they’re running (I might be running 12 miles and they’re running 2)
* 他们跑了多远（我可能已经跑了12英里，他们才跑了2英里）
* where they are in their training plan (I might be starting out on my plan, while they’re in week 20)
* 他们位于自己的训练计划的什么阶段（我可能才开始自己的计划，而他们可能已经进行了20周）
* where they are in their particular run (I might be warming up, while they’re at the hardest part of their workout)
* 他们已经跑到什么阶段了（我可能才开始热身，而他们正在进行最后的冲刺）
* how many years they’ve been running (maybe I’ve only started, and they’ve been running for 15 years)
* 他们已经跑步多少年了（可能我才开始，他们已经跑了15年）
* their injury status (maybe I recently injured an ankle while they’re not injured)
* 他们的伤痛情况如何（可能我最近才伤到了自己的脚踝，而他们没有任何伤痛）
* what event they’re training for (maybe they are training for a mile race, or a bike race, and I’m training for a 50-mile race)
* 他们为什么训练跑步（可能他们正在为一英里的比赛准备，或者准备一个自行车比赛，而我在为50英里的比赛准备）
* what else is going on in their lives (maybe they have nothing else going on, while I’ve been working hard, socializing, and moving to a new house and getting little sleep)
* 他们生活中还发生了什么（可能他们生活没有其他什么在发生，而我才结束困难的工作，社交，准备搬家，或者有点想睡觉）
* what motivates them (maybe I just like the peace of running mindfully, while they want to beat everyone else on the path)
* 什么动机促使他们跑步（可能我只是喜欢安静跑步给予我的专注感，而他们想要打败路上所有跑步的人）
Given these and a bunch of other factors I don’t know anything about, why would I compare my speed at this moment with the speed of another runner? They’re irrelevant to each other. We just happen to be both running on the same path at the same time, but that’s coincidence, and nothing else is the same.
如上所述，还有很多我自己也不知道的原因，为什么我要在那一刻拿自己的跑步速度和另一个跑步者比较呢？我们彼此没有任何关系。我们不过碰巧在同一时间同一地点都正在做跑步这件事情罢了，但这一切不过是巧合而已，其他并没有任何相同之处。
And even if everything else were exactly the same (would never happen), how would the comparison be useful? It would be meaningless even then.
即使其他任何事情都一样（这基本绝不可能），那么这样的对比又有什么用呢？比较本身就没有任何意义。
The only thing I should focus on, as a runner, is myself. Enjoy the run. Learn about myself as I run. Keep going, and in doing so, I’ll get better — compared to myself.
作为一个跑步者，我只应该关注一件事情，那就是我自己。享受跑步的过程，感受到自己在跑步，一直向前，就这样做。和自己相比，我会越来越好。
And that’s the only thing we should focus on in life — enjoy the walk, learn about ourselves, keep taking steps and drop the comparisons. You’ll love the journey even more.
我觉得这是我生活中唯一需要关注的事情。享受行走的过程，学会关注自己，不断向前，放下与别人的比较。你会更加爱自己的人生之路。
