Jealousy ain't good at all

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Time to admit. I have my feelings of envy creeping up on me at times of my life in my social media feed. If you look at all the perfect vacation photos, especially since we're in the Christmas season, the promotions of people's businessess or anything similar, it is really hard not to compare your life to them or question your own choices.

My experience recently has been perhaps the worst due to having experienced a bad breakup that resulted in a lot of jealousy in my mind. So, in trying to understand my own jealousy, I thought I would include some of the quotes that helped me. Sometimes you'll never really know the truth about yourself until you've mirrored your actions with people's powerful quotes.

Perhaps these quotes will help you as well. I may not quote word for word because I'm just bringing it right out of my heart.

The first person I want to mention is Shakespeare who said, "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy, it is the green eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."

This taught me of how jealousy, does not just consume you, but rather enjoys eating and devouring everything in the process. Jealousy can actually be more stressful to bear than I ever thought, especially since I have made a number of drastic changes to my life compared to my peers and friends.

Another perspective on jealousy is Robert Heinlein who said, "Jealousy is a disease, and love is a healthy condition, the immature mind often mistakes the one for the other."

Unfortunately, that is very true. When I was younger, I experienced jealousy within my relationships and equated that jealousy to the idea or misconception that I cared more. Looking back, it just added to the toxicity of those relationships, and I know this is something I have had to learn to differentiate before my relationships can build into a healthy one.

Last one is my favorite though, by Mary Schmich, she said, "Don't waste time being jealous. Sometimes you're ahead, and sometimes you're behind. Life's race is long, but ultimately you are just racing against yourself."

From this moment forward, this saying has become my new motto in my life. Life is simply too short to deal with this negativity. So the best thing I would always say to friends who deal with it is, do your best to throw it away.