10. Don't let the curse of comparison or envy rob YOU of happiness.

<p><strong>&quot;Don&#39;t let the curse of comparison or envy rob YOU of happiness.&quot;</strong><br><br>Something most of us grew up around, it began with &quot;keeping up with the Jones.&#39;&quot; If they got a new car, your family was under pressure to get a new car. If they went on a family holiday, where the hell was your suitcase and bottle of sun cream?<br>And now, decades on, so many of us are frantically running on not one but several new treadmills: keeping up with the Kardashians, Influencers and 4 billion other &#39;perfect people&#39; with perfect existences on Social Media who of course have no problems and every day for them is one big champagne-fuelled beach party.<br>Of course deep down inside, we know this is a false economy which only leads to us feeling &#39;less than,&#39; particularly for younger people who are still learning about themselves. <br>I myself was guilty of this for the first 40 years of my life, constantly feeling inadequate and in constant need of the public validation. Trouble was, every time I gained the said &#39;validation&#39; from one person or group, my mind would immediately shift from the &#39;approvers&#39; to the &#39;non-approvers.&#39; Why were they not impressed by my shiny new toy or &#39;status?&#39; It was relentless. It was exhausting.<br>It was only with the passage of time and meeting so many people with far less than me but being content with their lot that I began to question my approach to life. Was I on a path that was destroying my own happiness? The answer was clearly yes. <br>It took me many years of introspective work to &#39;slow down the oil tanker and turn it around.&#39; The COVID lockdown accelerated this process as it forced me to face myself alone daily and have the conversations that I would otherwise have conveniently &#39;kicked down the road&#39; for another time.<br>I listened to my heart. I apologised to my soul. I surrendered to the Universe and told her I trust her. Sorry I&#39;m late to the party. <br>It was a tough, humbling, alm