Comparisons: the good and the bad

As a society we cannot help but compare ourselves to others. We look at a reference person or group as a means of judging, teaching, and learning about ourselves and each other. 

Recently I have come to compare myself accordingly. I see how two friends interact, how they buoy one another with their love and support. I pray to learn from this model and integrate it into my own.

This practice of comparison is often handled problematically when used as a means of measuring one's self-worth. 

I view this same situation and see what I am not to some of my  friends as well as what I do not have. I know I cannot be all things to all people, but it hurts to think I can only be one thing to most people when I prefer to be perceived multi-dimensionally. 

Decision making time: what do I learn from this? I need to figure this out along with the feelings that come with it. I am struggling. Tearing myself down and building myself up with responses to the practice of comparison. Wisdom is not yet mastered in this sense. I wish I could hibernate while I contemplate this area of potential growth and understanding. Instead I must push on.