Welcome to part 4 of our self-compassion journal series! We’ve explored what self-compassion through daily journaling, letter writing, and positive affirmations. Today we’re cultivating self-compassion through positive comparison.

Social comparison is completely natural in the development of humans. It’s normal to compare your productivity, looks, and abilities to other people in order to place yourself in the world. With such easy access now to heavily curated lives online, it can be even harder to avoid falling into a hole of jealousy and negative comparison. But there is a way that we can empower ourselves through comparison too. The trick? Self-compassion of course!

What do we do when it seems our friends are too busy for us? First, try not to jump to conclusions; chances are they aren’t avoiding you on purpose. Second, don’t be too hard on your busy friends, we don’t always know what’s on someone’s plate, even our closest friends. Here are a few things to keep in mind and options to try when it seems like your friend is too busy for you.

We’ve found a few helpful ways to manage social media and we’d love to share them with you! Remember that we can choose to make social media a safe place full of inspiration, joy and useful content. We can change our consumption by switching from an algorithm of content that’s draining, triggering, or pushes unattainable body standards to one that promotes and prioritizes our self-care. And we also have the option to opt out of our online worlds to be happier in the present too.