Yes, you read that right… jealousy is beautiful. You are probably thinking there is nothing remotely beautiful about someone else receiving the grade or raise that you felt you deserved. Nor can much beauty be found when you worked your absolute hardest, but still received second place. Maybe you feel jealous when you see fellow classmates juggling internships, school and a job, while you’re struggling to just make it through the day. Whatever it may be, everyone has felt jealous of another person’s success at some point in life.

Unfortunately, in the moment jealousy can defeat and hurt you. Webster dictionary defines jealousy as being, “hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage.” But, comparing ourselves to another human being should not be viewed as negative. What you fail to acknowledge is that the cause of our jealousy is not because of the person who “outdid” you, rather you not acting upon your true potential.

When you are jealous you see another person’s qualities within yourself. The negative connotation of jealousy comes from you not owning up to those qualities, though you know you have the potential to do so.

Jealousy has nothing to do with the “opponent.” It is a self-inflicted disappointment that occurs as a result of not embracing your dreams, of not honoring your craziest thoughts and ultimately of not believing in your full potential.

When we are jealous we acknowledge that the possibility for us to succeed is real, all we have to do is something. The something varies depending on person and situation. At times it can be unclear on what to do next after you feel cheated.

But, the first step in fully elevating our lives is acknowledging that jealousy is not bad. It does not have to be malicious. Honor and respect the person who “beat” you, learn from the experience and move forward. If we learned a valuable lesson from each person we were envious of we would reach our highest potential, and ultimately become the person with the purpose that we always knew we could be.

We waste so much time and energy over a said person that we fail to acknowledge why we are actually jealous. What if we played with ideas of what could be? What if we nurtured and believed in those ideas and dreams enough that we brought them to life? Of course, this can only be done when we do not waste time and acknowledge that jealousy can be the force to awaken our mind, body and soul.

With only 24 hours in a day, time should only be spent on positivity and purposes. Obsessively focusing on another human is not only unhealthy, but also pointless because at the end of the day we are all equal, and just fighting to become the best versions of ourselves. The person you are jealous of is jealous of someone else and so on and so forth. This creates a deviation from our original tasks and leads to a never-ending cycle of comparison and negativity.

As a society we need to learn to honor and uplift one another. We need to learn that it is okay someone else got it this time. We need to happily accept that there are billions of people in this world, so it’s pretty normal that someone else has the same characteristics as you. And ultimately, have enough courage to not be discouraged by those shared similarities, but to instead use them as a guiding force to become your best you.