When It Comes To Your Health — Comparison is the Thief of Joy.

Especially when you embark on a health transformation

In a world where every victory is posted and every struggle color‑graded, comparison whispers in our ear:

“They’re doing better than you.”

It’s a poison that seeps into our minds, disguising itself as motivation, but what it steals is joy, progress, and authenticity. You never get to celebrate your own wins, no matter how small.

This is especially dangerous in a low‑carb, type 2 diabetes reversal journey: there’s no finish line, only a path. Comparison derails your focus on you — your plate, your results, your pace.

1. The Crux of the Problem

The proverb “Comparison is the thief of joy” is often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. Though he may not have coined it word-for-word, the sentiment reflects his Stoic-infused wisdom: contentment must come from within, not from measuring ourselves against others.

Yet social media, gym selfies, and weight-loss before/afters are engineered to hook us. They promise inspiration but more often than not deliver envy.

You see someone else dropping 20 kg in two months and your own steady, month-over-month progress suddenly feels sluggish. That powerful daily choice, the blood sugar win, or low-carb meal becomes overshadowed by what they achieved — and you feel small, inadequate, a failure.

2. Why Comparison Torments

A. We Compare Imperfectly

We measure our raw, early-stage struggle and results against their polished highlight reel and fail to account for context, genetics, support systems, or fatigue. We never see their struggle, their off days, their weight gains.

B. We Tilt Toward the Extreme

Watching someone go hard at the gym at 4:30 a.m. makes your 20‑minute morning walk feel insufficient, even when it’s sustainable and meaningful and delivers results over time.

C. We Undermine Our Progress

Comparison breeds doubt. With each upward glance, joy diminishes. You start feeling not enough, and that hurt bleeds into motivation and consistency.

I’m not losing 2kgs a day like that dude on instagram… why bother.

3. A Stoic Prescription for Joy

Wrestling with comparison isn’t weakness, it’s part of being human. But in Stoic philosophy, we have a roadmap to reclaim agency:

🎯 The Dichotomy of Control

Stoics say focus on what you control. Their progress isn’t yours to manage, and their story isn’t yours to tell. You only control you and your actions, ignore what you don’t control.

🧭 Amor Fati: Love Your Journey

Challenges, slow progress, plateaus, embrace them as part of your narrative. Every meal choice, every test reading, and every small victory is your victory to own.

It doesn’t matter if you didn’t have huge results like that Influencer. The reality is he/she probably has a personal trainer, a nutritionist, a personal chef.

You have you, and that’s enough.

🌱 Compete with Yourself

This day’s you versus yesterday’s you. That concept is both liberating and clarifying. Growth isn’t about beating others, it’s about outdoing your past, being ever so slightly better than yesterday.

4. Reclaiming Joy: Practical Tools

1. Limit the Feed

Reduce social media time or unfollow accounts that fuel insecurity, especially if seeing curated highlight reels of other people’s wins, or perfect $80 steak dinners are getting to you.

2. Track Your Small Wins

Keep a food journal, post-test energy log, or track mood, not public, but personal documentation of your wins.

3. Create Your Benchmarks

Define your success: stable A1C, 5 kg down, blood pressure in control. External feats are noise. Yours are substance .

4. Practice Gratitude

Write one sentence daily: “Today I… stayed under 25 g net carbs” or “noticed I didn’t crave sugar today.” Internal canvas grows brighter with these brushstrokes .

5. Reframe Comparison as Curiosity

Notice someone’s progress. Ask yourself: What can I learn from their habits? Instead of “Why aren’t I like that?” ask, “What are they doing that I might incorporate into my day?” That’s something you can control.

6. Connect with the Tribe

Share your wins, even if small. Celebrate others. Blur the line between leader and follower. Community strength is emotional capital.

5. Framing Your Revolution

To men over 50 facing type 2 diabetes, reversing weight, or reclaiming vitality: this is your movement. But the battle isn’t only physical, it’s mental.

Imagine a man logging his first low-carb meal: small victory. A stable glucose reading: win. Two weeks of consistent choices: triumph. That’s your mosaic. That becomes your identity.

Yes, others have bigger mosaics and that’s fine. You’re not behind. There is no unusual, faster, more “successful” version of your healing journey. There’s yours.

6. The Mindset Shift

• From Scarcity → To Sufficiency
  You don’t need more validation; you need more internal confirmation.
• From Spectator → To Participant
  Don’t watch them. Live your choices with integrity and discipline, but get in the game.
• From Shortfall → To Fuel
  Let others’ success fuel your motivation, not steal it.
• From Quantity → To Quality
  Consistency over spectacle. One healthy meal is worth more than a viral before/after, or perfectly cooked plate of Instagram eggs.

7. In Closing

Comparison steals not only joy but clarity, progress, and authenticity. In a low-carb, diabetes‑reversal journey, these losses are far costlier than extra carbs.

So, scan your feed. Notice your triggers. Unfollow the noise. Celebrate your tenacious choices. Reclaim your joy. The path isn’t perfect — but it’s profoundly yours.

You don’t need to outrun anyone. You only need to outrun who you were yesterday.