Is comparison the thief of joy?

So the other day I found myself in a cherry picker 20feet up in the air with a street artist named Jossiepops. I was filming him creating a large outdoor portrait when he said something along the lines of "seeing all these other artists working on awesome projects and him feeling a little down about it" ... I stopped him mid flow "I get you man! I know exactly how you feel...sometimes the most demotivating thing for me is seeing others just doing" ... he sighed with relief as did I. To be honest It felt good for both of us to hear another person say this out loud. It made think of the saying 'Comparison is the thief of joy'. One of those sayings that bounces around in my head a lot, In fact... I've had written it on a postit, stuck on the inside of my studio door for years to remind me when I leave. I guess the fact I remember that, means it's it must be working on a subliminal level. Anyway... the phrase was said by Theordore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States of America. Basically it means that comparing ourselves to others makes us feel inadequate in out own abilities. I'll be honest, there are times when I open up an App and I see people in my idustry and they are just constantly posting things....lol ... out there doing some project that looks like so much fun, or sharing some work they have produced that looks so fucking good. Maybe they are doing somthing simialr to me and just doing it with more consistency, with a better execution, or maybe it's something I have been sitting on for ages and not actioned and they have gone out and done their version of it and that is where that feeling comes from. It's not an annoyance at them. It's an inward annoyance at myself for not doing something, for delaying on doing, for waiting or for just being slack...I'm impressed by what they have done, excited for what they are doing...but it's overshadowed by this cloud of demotivation that I now have looming over my head, a cloud I created and anchored onto my own shoulders. It reminded me of the Mark Twain quote "theres no such thing as a new idea" eluding to the concept that we are just rearranging old ideas to form new ones. Which is great Mark... but you didn't live in the internet era my friend. I put the problem down to social media and the internet. While it is a place for endless inspiration and distraction it's also an instant and relentless reminder of all of the things we are not doing. I open my phone and within seconds I am being force fed all these cool things that other creatives all over the world are doing, Suddenly I'm thinking "ah fuck what's the point now!" Cos look, sometimes I'm not in the mindset to see how well everyone else is doing, I just wanna do my thing. Then other times I find peoples success inspirational and endearing. For the most part I'm not a jealous person and I like seeing people do well but that is often over shadowed by this annoying feeling. In the good old days pre the 'internet as we know it', you could sit on an idea, mull it over, explore it in your mind, chat to people about it... but not now. Have an idea? you better fucking make that a reality ASAP buddy before someone else does it or something better and drains the creative juices out of you faster than that first morning coffee.

It has created this huge pressure for all of us to be constantly creating and making and doing and hustling and beating everyone else... it's relentless and tiring. So heres what I do now: 1. Try to limit my phone usage at key times of my day when I am develping ideas. I also try not to watch things on a whim, I create a watch later list on youtube and I come back to them when I want inspiration. That way I decide what and when I watch rather than the apps. I use that Brick device on my phone when I am in the studio. highly recommend. 2. When i see someone else doing something cool... I comment or DM that person and say I like it. That is often a huge pressure release valve and completley ridiculous when you think about it lol. We've not behind, we're not in competition. We are all just making shit because we like doing it and something as simple as a comment eliminates that feeling every time.

ok... thats me for now, thanks for reading, let me know if it made sense to you... switch off your phone, go touch grass, make stuff and be happy. Dil