Let's face it, we've all been jealous at some point. Whether we were jealous of something small and insignificant, like wanting somebody's nice, new car. Or maybe we were jealous over something a little more significant, like being jealous of your friend's significant other and want them for yourself. Or maybe you had a childhood rivalry with somebody who always seemed to score one or two points higher on a test than you, so you were forever jealous of little Bobby. The point is we've all been jealous at one point or another. Most of us get jealous at least once on a daily basis. It's just normal, but jealousy isn't all bad.
Sometimes it is OK to be green with envy.
Jealousy has such a negative connotation. We've been led to believe that all forms of jealousy are bad. I don't necessarily believe this to be 100% true. I believe that some jealousy is "healthy" jealousy because it pushes us to do our best. I think that sometimes it is OK to be jealous of someone doing slightly better than you in a class or at your job. Seeing them do well or better than you will naturally want you to do better. This type of jealousy will prompt you to start working so that you can see the same successes or even more than those you are jealous of. After all, we are only human and jealousy is just part of that.
Sometimes jealousy can be borderline obsessive.
I've definitely fallen victim to some borderline obsessive jealousy. I'll see girls with all of their new jewelry, cute clothes, and perfectly manicured nails and think why can't I constantly have all of those things? I've had times where I thought I had the nicest items just to have someone one-up me. I feel like this is a common theme for a lot of people as well. We get so consumed in having the best of everything that we eventually lose sight (and lots of money) on who we actually are because we're so busy trying to be someone else. You need to ask yourself, "is it really worth it to constantly try to be something that you're never going to actually achieve?" There will always be somebody else with the best shoes or the better car. You need to own the things that make you happy without thinking about what everyone else likes.
Social Media is a key factor when it comes to jealousy.
A lot of people would be much happier if they consumed social media in moderation or even just took a break from it completely. I'm someone who loves social media and is a huge advocate for it. I even want to make social media into a career for myself one day as a social media coordinator for a large company, but I know that social media should not be a 24/7 factor in my life. They aren't lying when they say that our generation spends more time looking at a screen than interacting with real people. Since we are spending so much time on Instagram and Twitter we're seeing more and more fiction than reality.
We are constantly being shown pictures of "perfect" looking people, relationship goals, and the perfect lives of those who just travel all over the world and vlog it, living a life many of us wish we could have. With all of this constantly being thrust in our faces it's incredibly easy to get jealous very quickly. We all know, yet seem to forget that everyone posts the best moments of their lives. They only post pictures from certain angles or when their makeup is freshly done. Nobody posts pictures of themselves after they just washed their face and their acne is peaking through. We get jealous of people's "perfect" moments without knowing the full story.
Being jealous is normal. There's just absolutely no way that we as humans won't be jealous of someone or something at some point in our lives. It's just unrealistic. We just have to remind ourselves that even the most seemingly perfect of individuals get jealous too. Who knows, they might even be jealous of you.
