Expert Advice on How to Stop Being an Envious Person

Do you feel the little green monster called ‘envy’ eating you alive sometimes? When someone’s falling short compared to their family and friends, feeling envious can be inevitable – or not. Apparently, there’s something you can do to handle situations where you feel like you’ve achieved less than others. Check out what our experts have to say about beating the little green monster for good!

Determining Why You Feel Envious Is Key

According to Sara Protasi, Ph.D., determining the reason why you feel envious can be more than challenging. You can feel envy for no particular reason, but deep down, there’s always something that’s bothering you and causing you to feel less than ideal. For some people, envy comes with a friend’s promotion. For others, the green-eyed monster unlocks when someone close to you gets married. However, it’s crucial that you seek out why you feel bad about others’ success. Only after you determine precisely what’s bothering you, you can start dealing with the problem.

Self-Blame Has No Place in Your Life

It’s crucial to acknowledge envy in order to start dealing with it. You might be surprised, but many people work hard to hide their envious feelings instead of embracing them. To feel jealousy is so stigmatized that many think it’s a feeling that has no place in human relationships. However, as expert Sara Protasi puts it, benign envy can be helpful for self-growth. That’s because we usually envy people we look up to. So, embracing envy can help us accomplish more in our lives.

Discover Ways to Grow

Do you think envy can’t facilitate growth? Think again! Through self-discovery and acknowledgment, feeling envious can be turned into a positive emotion. The key is not criticizing yourself and instead trying to learn more about what the person you envy has accomplished. Perhaps even ask for advice. That way, you can turn your jealousy into a positive emotion that’ll help you flourish in your life. Also, don’t ignore the fact that success isn’t reserved for those who are well-off. There’s enough for every one of us to flourish and accomplish more in our lives.

Recognize the fact that your success is entirely dependent on what you do, and you’ll see that nobody is trying to take your “fair share” of abundance. Also, some experts recommend focusing more on what you have accomplished already to get the confidence you need for more complex challenges.