Comparison is one of humanity's most instinctive psychological responses.
Social psychology has a concept called "social comparison theory": we evaluate our abilities and worth by comparing ourselves to others. In evolutionary times, this helped us find our place in society.
But modern society has completely transformed the scale and frequency of comparison. In the past, you only compared yourself to a few dozen people in your village. Today, you open your phone and compare yourself to the "perfect lives" of the entire world.
The curated displays on social media are essentially a "comparison amplifier." What you see isn't someone's real life — it's the side they most want to show. Comparing your behind-the-scenes to someone else's highlight reel isn't fair, and it isn't real.
Psychological advice: shift from "horizontal comparison" to "vertical comparison." Don't compare yourself to others — compare yourself to who you were yesterday. If you have a bit more awareness and a touch more peace today than yesterday, that's progress.
As Zhuangzi said: "You are not a fish — how do you know what makes fish happy?" You are not someone else, so how can you know their path is better than yours?