Jealousy has a bad rep.
Everyone talks about jealousy as if it were a negative quality to have, as if every day situations don’t cause brief moments of jealousy and as if it’s a trait that should not be admitted.
I wouldn’t consider myself a jealous person; I feel very blessed with all I do have.
But, throughout my day, I feel a familiar twinge that irks me at random times and I have to give in and say hello to my little friend — jealousy.
Let me take a moment to recap my day and my several moments of jealousy. Maybe you can relate.
After a late Saturday night, I woke up an hour before I had to go to work, definitely not feeling up to a long day of acting pleasant as a cashier.
I went to grab a bite to eat and found my roommate sleeping on the couch — jealousy.
What I would give to be able to not have to go to work.
But, I got over that moment of jealousy and remembered that at least I have a stable job to go to where I make money and get to have fun talking to the many interesting people who come in to the store every day.
A couple hours into my shift, a delivery guy came with food for my coworker — instant jealousy.
The granola bar I grabbed before I left definitely hadn’t satisfied my growling stomach and my genius coworker had thought of this brilliant idea to order pizza without sharing the concept of ordering food with me. But, all I had to do was tell her I was jealous and she offered to share her smorgasbord of food with me.
After work, I was looking through old newspapers from last summer to try to get inspired for the Pulse design for today’s paper, I ran across a picture of my boyfriend with another girl on the University seal — the same seal we stood on at midnight and kissed.
I took about 10 minutes to decide if it was really my guy or if my eyes were just playing tricks on me — jealousy.
I was jealous I wasn’t the only girl he stood on the seal with, even if it was only a posed picture with a girl he worked with.
Do I fall under the awful, jealous girlfriend type just because I felt a twinge of jealousy when I saw that picture?
I, of course, had to take a picture of it and ask him about it, which he reassured me wasn’t a candid moment (it was indeed a photo illustration as the caption under the picture indicated) and our kiss on the seal was special.
My brief moments of jealousy didn’t cause me any distress or cause any long-term envy. In this one day, it reminded me of my blessings and all I have to be thankful for.
Jealousy has its purpose in life.
As long as you don’t hold on to that jealousy and you allow yourself to grow from it, jealousy can be a great asset to your life.
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