Your Jealousy Makes Total Sense

What you do with your dark side makes the biggest difference.

Photo by Camera Overboard on Unsplash

Congratulations, you’re invited to the adult table. There’s just one catch. You still have to eat the kid’s meal. They hand you plastic silverware, and tie a ridiculous bib around your neck —one with a cartoon hamburger on the front. The adults ask condescending questions like, “How does it feel to be sitting with us for a change?”

We’ve all felt this way, at least once or twice. We’re torn between appreciating what we’ve got, and wanting so much more.

Specifically, we want what we think everyone else has — a seat at the adult table. We want to feel equal to everyone else.

Or we do appreciate what we have, just a little too much. We become overly protective of people and things, and stop enjoying them. Instead, we focus exclusively on the potential to lose it all. Ironically, that fear pulls us into actions and behaviors that drive everyone away. We start accusing our partners of cheating, talking about coworkers behind their backs, or just trolling friends and strangers alike on our social media.

I’ve seen what jealousy can do to me, and everyone else. One of my friends from college recently killed himself out of jealousy. His best friend found stacks of journals detailing what he…