Comparisons are often natural and can, in some instances, even be helpful.
We all feel things differently!
By minimizing your feelings, you deny yourself the right to process and work through your feelings.
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It can also be isolating, cutting you from the support and help you need.
So instead of minimizing, try sitting with your feelings.
And confirm that you listen and validate other people’s emotions when they share their feelings with you.
It is important to remember that hurt is hurt.
Some examples include:
But someone else’s experiences do not negate your own.
In such cases, comparing feelings is a way of minimizing your own experiences.
This is something that you might do to avoid feeling anegative emotion.
Negative feelings can increase stress when they aren’t dealt with properly.
But evendifficult emotionscan be important sources of information.
In such cases, comparisons can lead to avoiding your problems rather than finding ways to address them.
Will it be helpful?
Or are you using it as a way to dismiss your emotions?
And that applies to your own emotions as well.
Sometimes sharing your emotions can help.
Research also suggests that just talking about what you are feeling can help reduce the intensity of those emotions.
When Comparison Might Be Helpful
The reality is that some degree of comparison is inevitable.
Instead, focus on being a supportive listener.
Fischer AH.Comment: the emotional basis of toxic affect.Emot Rev.
2022;17(12):e0279303.
