From conception through infancy as a Nigerian child, it has been one competition or struggle to another.
It all began when five of us kids sat in a circle around a plate of hot eba (garri) and egusi soup.
We never allowed the meal to cool to mouth temperature before delving into the native soup.
Growing up in Nigeria, the battle for food was so fierce that we usually explored different tricks to have an added advantage over one another on the garri, soup and fish.
Tega hides eba in his pocket.
Like a fisherman, Victory skilfully catches a piece of fish with his mould of eba.
I got into kindergarten, still smallish and met a different kind of competition. This time, parents did not allow us, children, to grow naturally and enjoy our childhood.
We partook in activities that were intense for our juvenile minds.
At an early age, parents want their kids to be outstanding academically. There was rivalry for whose kid would come first in the kindergarten class.
Somehow, many kids lost control during the stiff chase for academic excellence.
Years later, I became a Nigerian teenager. The contest was now different and diverse.
I experienced the contention for who would be the most popular kid in high school.
The goal was to be the coolest kid and the brightest student in the class.
Conflict among the female folks was aggressive.
The contest was about who was the prettiest girl in class or who was snatching whose boyfriend was. It became messy at some point.
As a Nigerian teenager, I observed how girls preferred to be friends with other ladies who they perceived as better off in terms of physical appearance.
The ideal way to steal all the attention from guys and leave their friends thirsty for attention. Friendships go south when there is a mix-up between crushes and boyfriends.
As a guy, you only get the opportunity to date a girl after passing the evaluation of her friends. Woe to you if any of her friends dislike you or have a crush on you.
She will definitely but in bad words. You end up receiving a rejection letter for your boyfriend’s application.
Finally, we scaled through teenage drama and graduated from secondary school. After high school, our lives all took a different route.
For some, it was a smooth ride, the other majority, our lives went reverse.
Some classmates got admitted to the University on their first trial with the Joint Admission Matriculation Board Exam (JAMB).
The rest of us struggled for years to enter the tertiary institution without success.
We resented ourselves when we saw pictures of our former mates in stylish lab coats in their fancy University laboratory.
A few of my mates went to apprentice with an uncle in some of the major cities in Nigeria.
Sadly, I hear Jonathan and Chris are now into the Yahoo internet scam. Their Instagram page stinks of an extravagant lifestyle.
I look back on my childhood and realize that life has always been about competition and struggle to be the best. Sadly, it won’t be out of place to say life has been unfair most of the time.
A few years later, our Facebook and Instagram feed gets littered with alluring pictures of former classmates.
Damn! We ask ourselves why we are not yet successful like our mates.
Something definitely must be wrong with our life.
The profound success of our former classmates drowns us into the ocean of depression.
It gets to a stage we become overwhelmed by the persistent flaunt of success by others on social media.
Deactivating our Facebook and Instagram accounts seems like the only way to get out of the mess of being the least successful of our former friends.
Fortunately, a few years later, we entered the corporate world. A good job, a furnished flat and an incredible ride. For the first time in a long time, we begin to perceive the aroma of prosperity.
We quickly enter into a relationship with Ifeyinwa – the girl of our dream.
In the long run, we make great friends, people who are always there for us.
On Saturdays, we play lawn tennis at the University staff club. On Sundays, we visit hot spots in the city to enjoy life.
Suddenly, we begin to observe that we are the least successful of our friends. How, then, do we handle being less successful?
Table of contents
Does success make you lose friends?
Success is not a tangible reason to lose your friends.
The friends you lose when you become successful, or the least successful, were probably not real friends.
Be friends with people who are genuinely happy about your success.
It is why the foundation of your friendship must be firm and loving. Real friends stick together during hard times and good times.
Should I leave my successful friends?
It would help if you did not leave your successful friends because you become the least successful.
Real friends will try to assist you and stick with you until you achieve success.
Friends motivate one another. When you discover that the people around you are not real friends, leave them whether you are successful or not.
Why do I feel bad when my friends are more successful
It is a normal feeling to feel bad when your friends are more successful than you.
The experience can be hectic when you are always the person who routinely dishes out congratulatory messages and gets none in return.
Most times, it is hard to stay comfortable around more successful people without having the feeling of being deficient.
Most times, we fail to realize we have our path to success.
Endeavour not to feel bad about yourself. Shake off the sadness and be happy.
Focus on yourself, work smart and stay optimistic.
How to Survive When Your Friends Are More Successful
- Define success
- Protect your Self-esteem
- Evaluate your relationship/friendship
- Be Ready to Collaborate – Friends Influence your Success
- Seek your path and success route
1. Define Success
All my friends are doing better than me?
The first thing to do when you become the least successful of your friends is to define success.
What does success mean to you?
We all have our definitions of success.
Defining success will help you know if your friends’ accomplishment is excellent or illegal.
A person who is involved in fraudulent schemes. They live an extravagant lifestyle and see fraud as a form of success. For the records, that’s not a real success.
It would help if you did not associate yourself with people who live in corrupt practices.
Why do I choose bad friends?
You may choose bad friends when you desire to roll with the cool guys in the hood.
Environmental factors can also be responsible for why you have bad friends.
If you live in a rough neighbourhood, there are chances that you will end up with bad people. Wherever you find yourself, don’t choose to make friends with bad people.
Their influence can be detrimental to your lifestyle, career, and life.
2. Protect your Self-esteem
Self-esteem is our psychology – mental makeup. It is how we gauge ourselves.
Do we appreciate and like ourselves?
Our self-esteem is the first part of us severed when we realize our friends are more accomplished.
We begin to see ourselves as being worthless with no value. We feel stupid, just as if we are not working hard enough to succeed.
I will be sincere here right now. When you associate with the wrong clique of friends, there is no saving for your self-esteem.
You find young people willing to get involved in fraudulent practices. The reason is that everybody except them is succeeding.
There is hope for boosting your self-esteem for those in the right web of friends.
Look beyond success and see how you are valuable. Everybody has got something to offer.
Even if you are not up to the success bar of your friends, you shouldn’t lose your self-esteem. Your friends are still with you because they see value in you. Get creative and love yourself.
3. Evaluate your friendship
Evaluating your friendship means determining if the people you hang out with are real friends. If they are your friends, you must be happy with their accomplishments.
At first, you may feel bad that you are the least successful. This feeling is normal. As I stated above, work on your self-esteem so that you will not feel bad for your successful friends.
4. Be Ready to Collaborate
Friends influence your success. When you acknowledge that your friends are more successful, the next step is to reach out to them and discuss your challenges.
Tell them how you feel about not meeting up with your expectations. They would seek a way to motivate and offer assistance.
They would network with valuable people. Some of your friends may opt to introduce you to their careers.
Keep an open mindset and collaborate.
5. Seek your path and success route
The reason why your friends have more wins may be because you are yet to discover yourself.
Pursue your dreams to achieve success. Are you employed? What is your talent? Learn skills and engage in activities that will equip you.
Relax, everything is going to be alright.
We must note that we bring too much competition into our lives. Success should not make us devalue ourselves or others around us.
Be appreciative of your current achievements and share the love.
- What’s your experience being friends with more successful people?
- Did you end your friendship with them?
- Are you more successful than your friends? What’s your story?
I would love to hear from you using the comment box.
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Ma thank you , for your advice.I am Egbu Sylverline Chineacherem.
The pleasure is mine.
I am glad you find this post helpful.
that means that the person should work hard more and more
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Am just speechless well I guess I have learnt a lot thanks for the teaching
Defining our relationship with people; successful or otherwise is key for survival, even as we develop skills everyday.
Thank you for your feedback. You’re correct. Real friendship should not be subject to success. Friends stick together during good and difficult times.