Adventure Eight: On jealousy

Jealousy is a complex emotion.

No one ever seems to want to admit their jealousy, but they usually don't need to; their actions and body language alone speak louder than their words could.

Jealous comes in all different forms and for all different reasons. You might be jealous that someone else got the job you wanted. Or jealous that they got a better grade even though you worked harder. Or jealous about someone's style. Regardless, jealousy is not pretty, and it's often incredibly consuming and distracting.

But here's the thing about jealousy. Feeling jealous is a blatant, but unintentional (I hope), disregard of all the things you have going for you. A disregard for all the things you have, the things you've done, the things other people have done for you, etc. Obviously, no one is thinking this when they're feeling green with jealousy. They're focusing on what they don't have, what someone else has. It's a lack of reflection and appreciation for what you have.

Jealousy is also exhausting. Constantly worrying about what someone else has or is doing is consuming. You spend more time focusing your energy on someone else rather than channeling it toward achieving what you want.

What I've learned about jealousy is that it's inevitable, unfortunately. We can't help but admire and want what we don't have. And that's okay, as long as we don't get malicious about it. We can use jealousy as our motivation to get what we want.