“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” ― Carrie Fisher
It’s sometimes hard not to compare what you have or don’t have with what you see around you. Life has a way of bombarding you with elaborate lifestyles and luxuries of the rich and famous and even not so famous people. From celebrities and professional athletes to founders and CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies to the local millionaire who runs a successful business in the area.
You might even get yourself caught up in the perception of what you think looks like success. Either way, certain emotions have a tendency to kick in when you go down that road. Whether you admit it to yourself or not, there are moments, maybe even the slightest of moments when you may feel a bit envious of their fortune and lifestyle. At that moment, there are a few things that can happen.
Don’t Be Jealous, Be Inspired
You can dwell on it and continue to feel envious which will cause resentment among other things. You can choose not to focus on it by appreciating what you have and being content. Or you can be inspired and use that inspiration to take the necessary steps for your journey to financial freedom. Wherever there is appreciation and inspiration, there’s no room for jealousy or envy.
How you choose to react will not affect anyone else but you. Choosing to react negatively will only drag you down. Of course, on the flip side of that, choosing to react positively can lift you up to great heights. Envy is a strong emotion if you allow it to get a hold of you. And as it is worth mentioning again…inspiration and envy do not go hand-in-hand.
“Jealousy blurs the focus.” ― Toba Beta
Being jealous or envious over the success of others or worse yet, perceived success is pointless. It’s a negative emotion you have to overcome if you ever want to achieve it yourself. Overcoming jealousy or envy is not an easy task. But it can be done if you truly want to change your situation. Envy kills inspiration. It’s a very toxic emotion, so as long as you are envious you can’t be inspired.
If you find yourself being continuously jealous or envious, you need to become more self-aware to find out why you’re feeling that way. Being self-aware is about making a conscious effort with taking note of what it is that’s causing the feeling of jealousy or envy at the moment you’re feeling it, and giving yourself feedback to uncover the reason for feeling that way.
Taking that moment to give yourself feedback will help you to drill down to the real reason of why you’re feeling the way that you do. Most often what you’ll find is that you’re comparing yourself to others based on what you see. Sometimes the reasons are more internal like feeling insecure about who you are or threatened by their level of prestige.
Once you pin point the root causes of your envy, you’ll realize that what you’re feeling is more about how you’re judging yourself and your very own perception of what you think should be. That cycle needs to be broken before you can make any successful progress. Make the decision to do what it takes to stop feeling envious and fuel the inspiration needed to achieve your own financial success.
“Remember that things are not always as they appear to be… Curiosity creates possibilities and opportunities.” ― Roy T. Bennett
Comparing yourself to the success of others can trigger feelings of jealousy. Being self-aware can help you to uncover the true reasons why you feel that way. As you become more self-aware and conquer the thoughts that cause you to be envious, you can then look at those who you see as being highly successful and use what you view as their success to be inspired in your own life.
Jealousy and envy are negative emotions that kill dreams. By overcoming them, it opens you up for inspiration and learning. Use the success you see in others to fuel your own success. Allow them and their story to inspire you to set and achieve your goals. Instead of being envious, be curious! Be curious about who they are and how they became successful.
Learn about them, get to know them, learn from them, ask them questions, create friendships with them, ask them to be your mentor. There are so many more advantages to personal growth with this approach. The last thing you want to do is become jealous or envious. Those feelings will only hurt your chances of ever becoming successful in anything you attempt to do.
It’s going to be the inspiration that you get from others that are financially successful, not your jealousy or envy of them that will put you on the right path to your own financial success. How you choose to react won’t affect anyone else but you. By reacting negatively, you’ll only be dragging yourself down. But on the flip side of that, reacting positively can put you on the road to financial freedom!
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