Everyone deals with some type of jealousy in their life, whether it's with relationships or simply just comparing yourself to someone else. I've had my fair share of scrolling through my Instagram feed and wishing I was some of the girls that I see on it. The pretty long hair, the perfect body... if only I could have it all. The more and more I thought about it, I came to the realization that there will always be someone out there who is better than me. Better at sports, better at socializing, better at it all.
It's the cold hard truth.
But then again, if there is someone out there who is better than me, there's always someone out there who wishes they could be in my spot. So instead of focusing on who you wish you could be, we all should focus on who we are already. With jealousy, the only person we compete against is our self.
If we're talking about romantic relationships, jealousy will do nothing but cause problems. Being jealous won't do anything but bring anger and stress into your relationship. Absolutely nothing will come out of being jealous. The only thing it will really do is hurt your significant other. Sure, many people think if you or your partner shows jealousy, it tells them that you really care about them, but in the long run, it will end up breaking your relationship.
A big red flag is if jealousy continues to happen in a relationship over and over again. It may not be jealousy anymore, but a lack of trust. We're all humans and get jealous over things. We all have had feelings where we think we're not enough or think of how much better we could be. It happens to everyone. But when it starts to get to the point of getting angry when your boyfriend/girlfriend hang out with their friends or family instead of you or getting jealous over every little single thing where arguing becomes daily is when you need to draw the line and talk about it and what you can do to fix it.
Jealousy is an ugly trait and that's the cold hard truth. I have caught myself being jealous over very small things that shouldn't have mattered and end up regretting it immediately because of how stupid it was. It shows a lack of trust, insecurity and makes us look weak. It may really feel like the world is ending and collapsing at our fingertips when jealousy is taking over our body, but we all have to remember deep down that your significant other is with YOU and they like you for you and not that person you've been comparing yourself to all day and night.
