In optical illusions two squares look different colors until you cover the background. Context lies to your eyes.

Your eyes do not report colour on its own. They report it compared with whatever surrounds it, which is why covering the background makes the trick collapse and the two squares turn out identical. Judgement works the same way. A grade, a time or a paycheck feels fine or awful depending on what is sitting next to it, and the thing itself never moved.

When something feels bad this week, name the background you are measuring it against. Your friend’s sprint time, your brother’s grades, a stranger’s feed. Then look at the number on its own and see whether it still deserves the feeling it got.