Why do we feel inferior to some people and superior to others?

Why do we sometimes feel inferior to certain people, and superior to others? Like, you can walk into a room feeling completely fine about yourself, and then someone walks in who's really successful, really attractive, really confident, or just seems like they have their life together, and suddenly your brain goes: '...oh.' And you feel a little smaller. But then you meet someone who you think is less successful than you, and suddenly you feel a little taller. Which is kind of weird. Because your actual abilities didn't change. The person standing next to you did. And I think that's because humans don't evaluate ourselves in a vacuum. We constantly compare ourselves to the people around us. Who's more attractive? Who's smarter? Who has more money? Who's more respected? Who seems more successful? And that probably made a lot of sense when humans lived in small groups. You needed to know: where do I stand? Who has influence? Who should I listen to? Who might compete with me? Am I high enough on the totem pole to secure the best resources? But now we don't just have the 50 or 100 people around us. We have billions. And social media lets us compare ourselves to the most successful, attractive, talented people on Earth, whenever we want. So sometimes you aren't actually feeling bad about yourself. You're just standing next to a very unusual comparison point. And the weirdest part? That person might be doing the exact same thing to someone else. Which means we're all walking around, taking turns feeling inferior and superior to each other. Your brain is basically running a never-ending social leaderboard. And nobody even agreed to play. So what do we actually do about it? I don't think the answer is to stop comparing yourself to other people. You're probably going to do it anyway. Instead, when you catch yourself feeling inferior to someone, get curious about what exactly you're reacting to. Are you jealous of their confidence? Their skills? Their career? Their relationships? Because sometimes that feeling isn't telling you 'you're not good enough.' It's telling you 'hey, that's something you want.' And if you can turn comparison into curiosity instead of self-judgment, suddenly the person you felt inferior to can become someone you learn from. Your brain is still running the social leaderboard. You just don't have to let it decide your score.