Your parents comparing you to your cousin says more about their worries than your worth.

Comparisons usually come out of a parent’s own fear rather than any careful judgment about you. What sounds like a verdict is often worry looking for a shape, anxiety about your future dressed up as somebody else’s achievement. That does not make it pleasant to hear. It does mean the information is mostly about them.

When it happens, try hearing the worry underneath and answering that instead. Say what your own plan is, in one sentence. You do not have to defend yourself against a relative who was never really the subject.