I know I’m not the only person in the world who has been jealous of someone else. We all experience jealousy on different levels, but have you ever been jealous of your friends? Yes I love my friends and I want the best for them, but I have also envied them to the point where it became unhealthy. When I say unhealthy I mean that I have been so jealous of my friends that it has caused me to fall into a depression. It’s not that I want to be like them; at times I have envied their success, the relationships they have, and their skills and abilities.
When my friend went off to live in Costa Rica a few years ago, I began to feel a little twinge of jealousy. It wasn’t bad enough that I was stuck in college on the five-year plan and she had already graduated, but now she was about to go have the experience of a lifetime while I was stuck in Carrollton, Georgia. It was a tough pill to swallow. I was genuinely happy for her, but a part of me wanted that experience too. Although that was years ago, I now find myself getting slightly jealous of people on Facebook. Specifically, when they lose weight, get a new job, get engaged or married, go on vacation, buy a house or car, or when they start having kids. It seriously made me think about taking a social media hiatus. The funny part is that I have no want to get married right now, I don’t really want kids, and my car is still fairly new, so why am I jealous? It’s all about seeing people move forward in life and you feel stuck.
Jealousy is something we all experience, whether people are jealous of us or we are jealous of other people. It’s the most natural unnatural feeling in the world. It’s unnatural because we know we shouldn’t feel that way, but sometimes you just can’t help it. What you have to realize is that what is meant for you will be for you. God makes no mistakes. What someone else does and what someone else has, has nothing to do with you. And the grass isn’t greener! You may think someone is living a life better than yours, but they may be miserable and envy your life. I often have to check myself when I feel the jealousy rising, and I have to tell myself that I am not incompetent, I am not inadequate, I am not unworthy of opportunities or love. I am blessed to have what I have, the life that I have. It has taken me a long time to fully understand that trusting God and having faith is the antidote to jealousy. Just know that whatever God wants for you will be for you!
It is very common to think everything is better on the other side of the fence. But when we are there we see real life, real problems there. We just need to be patient on our own way, trying to achieve success and finally make other “be jealous” on ourselves.
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I have found myself feeling like this too at many point in my life but one of the main problems is social media. People only portray the best of themselves and what they want you to see on there most of the time. Facebook is essentially a bragging site but don’t worry about it too much, jealousy is natural and if you keep a positive attitude about your own life it’ll help. Also im jealous because you live in america! Everyone’s jealous of something haha x
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Lol please don’t be jealous of that hahaha! But you are right about social media. I try to limit my bragging on Facebook and instagram, I want people to know that my life isn’t perfect. But I want them to know that I am blessed and happy with my imperfect life. Thanks for reading my post!!!
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Yeah im the same but everyone likes a brag from time to time 🙈 x
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Lol yea I have to throw one in every now and then.
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Jealously is everywhere. When I first started blogging, I was jealous of all the well established personal finance bloggers out there that had so much social media engagement and seem to have a goof following. I am still a newbie blogger, have been blogging for 3 months now, but I try not to let that bother me so much. Social media can really mess up with your brain if you let it. I limit myself to only checking social media twice a day (except for the days I do a new post). This is includes facebook, twitter and the like.
Like you said Crystal, God makes no mistakes and everything wil come in time. Aliceinput, you are so right, Facebook can be a “bragging site”.
Good post!
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I’m learning to limit my social media activity. I wasted a lot of time looking into other people’s lives, instead
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Yah I learned ever since I started blogging it can be very addictive. That’s good that you are doing that.
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Sorry I accidentally hit send lol. But I wasted a lot of time looking into other people’s lives instead trying to fix and improve my own life.
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Reblogged this on GUM | Growing Up Millennial.
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