I just made myself a promise to stop being jealous. I’ve never quite been a hater, but I’ve fallen victim to the green-eyed (jealousy) monster many more times than I can count. American’s already have this obsession with being the best, number one at all times. As a rational human with commonsense, I understand that I will not always rank at the very top of the list and that is totally fine with me. However, when someone has something that I really want and I don’t, it makes me jealous — an ongoing jealousy until I, too, have the same thing or something better or no longer want whatever it is they have.
Until today.
Lately, the jealousy has been all about success. It’s a cop out to say that success is elusive To be successful is to get up and get what you want. Even if success was elusive, it’s not unattainable. So why be jealous of anyone else, ever? Of course there are a few exceptions, but for the most part people who want something bad enough will put effort forth whatever energy is required to reach their goal. So instead of being jealous of someone else, it makes much more sense to be happy for them. They’re working hard and it’s paying off and that is fucking amazing.
Tell people you’re fond of their work and you want to work with them. Do the things you want to do instead of thinking over and over about actually doing them. If you’re not getting what you want out of life it’s probably because you’ve never examined your life seriously enough. Living day to day is cool, but what are you really doing with your time, your days, your years? Have you set goals and are you working daily toward them?
Of course this post is mostly a conversation with myself. Instead of being jealous and admiring successful people (particularly successful peers), it’s just easier to drop the jealousy. It’s a sign of dissatisfaction with one’s own situation and I’m determined to be a strong woman who succeeds in achieving her heart’s desire. I don’t need to win all of the time, but being habitually successful is a great thing to be. Being jealous is not.
