Jealousy (noun): feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages.
Jealousy is a natural human emotion. We have all felt the emotion at some point in our lives. Whether it's the girl that just seems to have it all, the guy you seem to always find your girlfriend checking out, or the person at work that got the promotion, we all feel it.
It is natural and understanding to feel insecure, worried, or even threatened by a person or situation. Not only are these feelings natural, but they are unavoidable and inescapable. But the feeling of being jealous is completely different. Why?
Because you can turn it off.
You can choose not to feel jealous. Easier said than done right? But turning off jealousy can significantly improve your mental health and overall mindset. You can turn this ugly emotion off by remembering that jealousy is never useful and that it will never have a favorable outcome for you or anyone else.
When it comes to feeling jealous in your love relationship, it does absolutely nothing but damages the relationship. According to Psychology Today, research linked jealousy to a number of different traits including low self-esteem, inadequacy with yourself and the relationship, and possessiveness. Some may try to defend their jealousy with more of a positive connotation such as they are just "overprotective" and are just expressing their love for their partner. But in reality, feeling envious is just an exposure of our insecurities.
When feeling jealous of another person because of their achievements, you are portraying feelings of insecurity and weakness. Not only does it make you feel miserable and down on yourself, but it even further slows you down from achieving your goals.
For example, wasting your energy being jealous of somebody because of their new advancements in the workplace will just hold you back from exerting that energy towards being where that person is. Instead of gearing your emotions negatively and feeling envious and hostile towards the person you are jealous of, replace envy with appreciation and happiness for another person.
Be happy for that person who got a brand new car- because that's awesome, isn't it?! Idolize and appreciate the hard work of the person who got a promotion at work and use THAT as your motivation to work even harder.
If you let the achievements of other people turn into resentment, you are only holding yourself back. And if you don't stop comparing yourself to other people, you will never be fully satisfied and happy with yourself.
As the saying goes, envy is like counting other people's blessings instead of your own. Don't look at life as how to be better than others, but instead how to be the best version of yourself.
