Matt's Audio Letter of the Week

Hey there, so welcome to this edition of the Feel Better Letter.

This is Matt.

And uh yeah, hope you’re all having a great week.

The message that I want to talk about today is comparison.

I recently put out a podcast episode on this, and I just—I feel so strongly about this that it bears repeating.

And I think the reason is because I've been on multiple conversations in recent weeks where I've heard the following language—like someone saying, “Well, I don't think I'm that bad because I'm not housebound,” or “I'm still doing stuff in my day-to-day life.”

And while that's true, it's easy to compare yourself to someone who is in a much more difficult state than you, right?

And then, because they’re in a more difficult state, it allows you to feel okay about where you are, right?

And while that can be good because it makes you feel good, the issue with that—the problem with that perspective—is that it doesn’t look at the flip side of the coin: where you could be if you weren’t dealing with this stress and anxiety, this OCD loop, right?

However that manifests for you—panic attacks, social anxiety, intrusive thoughts, contamination—it doesn’t really matter how it manifests.

It’s like, how is that actually impacting you from becoming the person you could be?

And let’s pretend that, you know, you believe that you get one shot here on earth, right?

Now, some of you may believe that, some of you may not—I don’t know.

But let’s just pretend that that’s the reality for a second.

And the question ultimately becomes: Did I make the most out of this experience that I have here?

Did I become the person I could become?

Did I—like Maslow put it in his pyramid—did I self-actualize?

Did I obtain the best version of myself that I could become?

Because if you look at the worst version of yourself and compare yourself to that and say, “Well, I'm not that, so I’m doing pretty good,” what you never look at is who you could be—who you could be if you weren’t dealing with this.

Like, what opportunities open up?

What relationships open up?

What possibilities open up in your life?

And I think one of the things that keeps people stagnant and complacent and really stuck is comparing themselves to a version of themselves that is way worse off than where they are.

And then that makes them feel okay about staying where they are—or creates a false sense of, “Well, I've accomplished so much because I’m not there.”

And wherever you are is not really... I mean, you can always be worse off, and you can always be better off, right?

There’s always room for regression, there’s always room for improvement.

So what this message is really about is making sure that you’re not using comparison to your detriment—that you're not comparing yourself to someone who's way worse off than you and then allowing yourself to stay there, preventing yourself from becoming who you could become.

Because when you really get this idea—I think a lot of people really doubt or question the idea of, “Is this loop something I can really break out of?”

Because if you’ve never really broken out of it, it’s hard for you to conceptualize that that’s something that can actually happen.

And a lot of times, even your concept of what that means is off.

Like, “Okay, I’m still gonna have this anxiety” or “I’m still gonna have these thoughts, and that’s what it is.”

It’s like—no.

What breaking out of the loop really means is your entire emotional state and energetic state is completely different.

Your perspective on life is different.

The way you view things is different.

The entire way you see the world—it changes.

Because when you’re stuck in fear and you’re constantly projecting fear onto the world, everything looks scary.

Everything looks dangerous.

And when you get the idea that you don’t have to live that way—that that doesn’t have to be the way your story goes, or the way that you continue to go through this experience called life—you start to really ask yourself:

“Okay, look—if this is something I can break out of, am I doing anything, am I believing anything, am I allowing myself to stay in a situation that I really don’t want?”

“Am I settling for a life that is okay or manageable when I could have a life that’s amazing?”

And that is where comparison can steer you wrong—because it can allow you to settle for less than what you really could attain.

And when it comes to your mental and emotional well-being, many, many people settle for way less, in my opinion, because they really don’t know what’s available.

And oftentimes, unconsciously—or just out of naivete—they do things that perpetuate the loop and just assume that’s how things are, not realizing that they have the power to transcend lower emotions, to transcend these states, to transcend the loop.

So I just want to really stress the idea that if you're comparing yourself, the best thing you can do is compare yourself to the version of yourself you want to become—because that will constantly push you in that direction, whatever step that is.

If you compare yourself to someone who's way worse off, ironically, you’re going to start steering yourself in a worse-off direction, because you’re going to become complacent and start sliding back.

But if you compare yourself to the version of yourself that’s your optimal version—the pinnacle of yourself—and you really grasp that concept of what that is, like that level 10 version of yourself, and you look at that and realize that it’s attainable, then you start to see the gap between where you are and that.

Instead of the gap between where you are and the level 1 version of yourself, if you will.

And that’s why, with comparison, I just encourage you to use it in a way that’s going to serve you—moving forward, and up into higher and higher planes of existence for yourself, as opposed to justifying keeping yourself where you are.

So that’s the message for today.

I hope it’s helpful.

If you found it beneficial or know someone that would, please share it with them—forward this on over to them.

And with that, if you’re interested in working with me or the team, or in Taking Back Control, we have a link down in the email below.

You can complete an application, and yeah—we can help you on this journey.

So with that, wishing you all a great day and a great week, and I look forward to seeing you soon.