Day 89 (Eighty-nine) of 365 days
It is hard to be satisfied as a human. People feel envy about other's wealth, look and job. Pride is what causes envy, as human beings we do not like it when others are better. Some people say envy is a sickness, but some people see it as a motivation to be better.
Think about a time when someone else had something you wished you had, whether it was a success in school, sports, a creative endeavour, or anything else. How did you feel? Did it make you want to work harder – or give up? Now think of a time when you were the envy of others. How did that feel?
Envy and jealousy are similar but have different meanings in terms of emotion. You are envious of what others have but you do not. Jealousy, on the other hand, involves holding tight to what you have, afraid of losing. The social and moral stigma surrounding this emotion is so strong that we have a hard time confessing to feeling envy, especially when it involves malice and spite, and even more when it is directed towards people we love.
One of the reasons why envy does not take a holiday is that we never give a rest to the impulse to compare ourselves to one another. Envy is a pervasive passion that affects all. There is certainly no human being who can eschew envy completely because our inherent curiosity about other’s matter will always fuel some envy in us.
Like all ugly emotions, envy can be insidious and paralyzing. It wears us down. It consumes us. It hurts. But also contains a ton of information about who we are on the deepest level. In that sense, it’s a gift. We just need to know how to unwrap it. Here’s the thing; envy isn’t fun. It isn’t immediately productive or easy to discuss. It's tempting to suppress it to avoid the shame and discomfort of wanting what someone else has.
But if we can sit with it, take it apart, and look at what's driving it, then we can see our envy as a kind of beacon pointing us to what matters. The moment we do that, our envy becomes a powerful teacher.
As for me, when I feel envious of someone's success, I ask myself why. And the answer is always because they are chasing something I want to. I zero in on what that something is, and I remember how much I want it, and I ask myself what I can do right now to act on my desire. And then I do that thing, right there at the moment, and it's almost like the envy is telling me what to do.
Therefore, the most effective way to combat the recurring effects of envy is to remember to be whoever you are and that's all because everyone is their individual and should live their life accordingly. We should keep in mind that nobody is perfect and that everyone has their strengths and flaws. If we all learn to look at each other as equals, we could realize how well we could coordinate our lives together and all live in peace and happiness.
