I’ve often heard the saying not to compare your life to someone else’s highlight reel. While this has always been a bit of a problem because people will talk about the best of the best, but won’t talk about the long hard road it took them to get there, Facebook makes this even worse. You have friends that post every day about how wonderful their life is, how happy they are, how much they love their job, kids, spouse, life. That’s their highlight reel. It’s the best things that have and are happening in their lives.

When you’re wondering how your life compares, you cannot compare it to others’ lives. Instead, if you must compare your life, compare it to other points in your life. Do you like your job and wonder if you are doing well enough? Are you doing better than you did yesterday? Are you learning and practicing new skills every day? Have you improved your job skills since you started on that path? Are you happy today? Then you’re doing great. You have no need to compare it to anyone else.

Do you wonder how your kids stack up to others? You can bet that others are not sharing the gory details of why their kid is grounded, why they aren’t using their phone or are changing their passwords or why they are just not posting about their kids at all. Kids aren’t perfect. You can’t compare your “normal” kids to someone else’s “perfect”–or so they seem on social media–kids.

Wondering if your car compares to your friends’ cars? Does yours run? Does it get you where you need to go? Can you afford the payment (or better yet, is it paid for?), insurance, and maintenance? A big fancy car doesn’t make you a better person–it makes you a broke person. As long as it gets you from Point A to Point B, spend the money you’re not spending on a car to go to dinner or do something as a family.

And then, how’s your wardrobe? Is it Nordstrom or Target? Is it Stitch Fix or Goodwill? You can design clothes to make you look great. Of course, it’s easier with good quality clothes, but it is possible with just about anything. And honestly, do you think most people can even tell the difference? They’re not looking at the quality of your clothing, they’re looking at your style.

Just quit comparing. It is exhausting and doesn’t serve any good purpose. It makes you stress out trying to keep up with someone else. You should just be you and work to improve your own life and not worry about others. You have no control over them, so why are you comparing your life to theirs? Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Spend your time, money, and energy making you and your life better. Then when you make your own highlight reel, it will mean so much more to you.