Jess Bozeman, Campus Carrier Opinions Editor

You walk into your hardest class of the semester, sit down and smile. You got a 92. However, after you glance over at the desk beside you, you see your neighbor got a 98. Your happiness is somehow diminished. Yet, why is that?

You’ve still gotten an objectively good grade on your test, but it somehow means less now that you know that your grade is not the absolute highest.

We as a culture view our lives as a competition. Somehow the life goal of “be the best I can be” turned into “be the best at everything,” an unattainable goal that can only end in failure and disappointment. We set ourselves up as competing against the entire population instead of just striving to better ourselves.

Now, I’m not saying that all competition is bad. I grew up in Alabama and I’m pretty sure I’d be banished if I suggested we shouldn’t have college football. In fact, sometimes competition can help. On their website, Forbes published a slide show detailing different reasons competition is good for business. The slide show mentions how competition can urge innovation and discourage complacency.

These reasons make sense and have been proven true by history again and again. If Apple was not in competition with Microsoft, we almost certainly would not have the technology we enjoy today.

While competition is good in some areas, it is not good in every area and more and more it seems the line is getting blurred. When we cannot be happy about our progress without comparing it to someone else’s mistakes, then we have a problem. This problem gives us two main consequences: we make competitors instead of allies, and we put unneeded pressure on ourselves.

First, our over-competitive natures can force us to make antagonists when we could be made allies. It goes like this. We are individuals and, as grade school government classes will have you believe, created equal. However, we are not created equal in all things and believing we are is unrealistic and naïve. I, a 5-foot 2-inches non-athlete, will never be as good at basketball as Michael Jordan.

One of the reasons for the view “we are created as equal and should stand as equals” is because we all have different strengths and weaknesses that all add up to equal balance. Yet, by believing I have to be the best at all things, I pit myself against those that I could be getting help from.

Also, our overcompetitiveness puts unneeded pressure on us. Since we cannot be the best in everything, when we see people doing better than us, we compare ourselves to them and assume that we have failed. Our reachable goal of being good in a few things has been overtaken by the goal to be the best at everything and the result of this is a feeling of inadequacy.

How can we fix this? We can stop focusing on comparative viewpoints such as being “the best” or being “better than” and instead focus on being “good” and “getting better at.” We need to start noticing when we are putting ourselves in a comparative state and ask ourselves whether this is necessary. When you feel you could do better, make sure to compare yourself not just to others, but to your own personal progress.

By being able to judge whether we are being overly competitive, we will be less likely to needlessly alienate others and can forgo one source of stress.