Run Your Own Race

By Kaitlin Costarene

Quite possibly one of the worst things we can do for ourselves is compare ourselves to others. When I was young, my dad always used to say, “Run your own race.” This simple mantra is so meaningful and can apply to literally everything we do in our everyday lives. 

Admittedly, I frequently find myself comparing myself to those around me. I am not a competitive person, but I often feel that I am falling behind if I’m not exactly where it seems like everyone else is. Whether it be in terms of securing a summer internship, getting an assignment done, working to reach a fitness goal, or engaging in social activities, it’s often difficult to not think about what other people are doing and how my progress compares to theirs. 

However, I’ve also recently found that I am learning to be more carefree in regards to what other people are doing. When I compare myself to other people, I am not gaining anything. Instead, I am simply stressing myself out over things that are completely unrelated to my life and am beating myself up for things that don’t connect to me at all. It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing in the moment or what their plans are for the future. More importantly, it matters that I make progress and better myself on my own terms, that I find success in the little things I accomplish, and that I am happy with my life and who I am as a person. 

When you compare yourself to someone else, it’s far too easy to beat yourself up. It’s probably safe to say that we’ve all been there or felt this before. When you see someone else doing something great and it seems like everything is falling into place for them, that can serve as a motivator for you to do better and to try harder. In this sense, inspiration by others, not comparison with others, is great. But conversely, it can also serve as an excuse to get in your head and believe that you are less successful than that person or that you are not good enough. These thoughts can easily spiral into more detrimental ones, altogether leaving you feeling disappointed in yourself, unmotivated to do better, and worried about where you will end up in the future. 

So when you find yourself stuck in the rut of comparing your performance or personality or success to someone else, my advice to you is this: run your own race. Do your own thing. Stop looking to other people as a measuring tool of how successful you are. If you are doing something better than you did previously or trying something new, you are making progress, and therefore, you are successful. So run your own race. Be authentically you. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. We are all individuals and we will all have our own distinct paths. If they were all the same, nothing would be interesting or exciting! So don’t try to follow someone else or keep up with them, just run your own race.