Should I Care About... The Comparison Trap & Why It Gets So Much Louder in Summer

And I have learned, I've been, what, running my own business for, like, eight, nine years now, and I have learned over that time that there are certain things that I have to do to protect my peace while I'm on holiday.

Now, really obvious ones are, like, a few years ago I managed to not take my laptop with me, and well done me.

Then I started actually deleting my email app, deleting my Slack app, and actually not responding to clients.

But I was still finding that, yes, I was away from clients, and yes, I was feeling rested, but I was still on Instagram.

Mm.

And partly because I use Instagram for personal stuff, I like browsing on Instagram, I have friends on Instagram, so it doesn't feel to me like a purely work app.

However, what I realized was that it brings up all sorts of horrible comparison in me, and very specifically when I then can't action anything.

Right.

So normally, I might see something online and be like, "Oh, that's a good idea.

Oh, I could do that," or, "I'm gonna put it on my list." It's a bit of comparison, and I might feel a bit crap about myself, like, but I would say I'm reasonably good at not being too comparison-y on Instagram.

I've trained myself.

But when it gets me, and I'm on a sun lounger, and I've committed to not working, and all I go thinking is, "Oh, that person's doing a birthday sale.

Oh, well, it's my birthday this week.

Should I have done a birthday sale? Why, oh, well, I could probably get a few emails.

I could probably get Claude to write a few emails-

Mm

... and I could probably send them to Nicola, and she could probably get them into MailerLite for me." Or I might see someone who's like, "Oh, I've just got back from holiday, and I made £1,000 every day while I was away from my incredible ads funnel." And I might be like, "Oh my God, I'm not earning £1,000 a day while I'm on holiday from my ads funnel.

Maybe I should...

Ooh, what could I do? Maybe I could see if I could sell something on ads." And honestly, my brain just then goes into overdrive, and it just creates massive comparison, I think, about whether I'm, am I doing it right? Should I still be on Instagram while I'm on holiday? I see other people putting stories on their Instagram when they're on holiday.

Maybe they're less addicted to social media than I am.

Maybe I'm doing that wrong.

So as you can hear, there's a lot of spiraling that goes on.

Hence, the rule that we now have in my family/with me is that I delete Instagram when I go on holiday-