A trip back to the homeland recently had me meeting a junior of mine, who had just taken admission in the University. We got to talking and she mentioned how disappointed she was that she could not get the college of her choice and instead had to take admission in a ‘loser’ college, or so she thinks. To make matters worse, her best friend got admission in the college my junior had been lusting after. The jealousy was killing the poor kid to the point that she called the admission a ‘lucky’ situation.
This incident got me thinking of how jealousy crops in every point of our life. We are jealous of people who get better grades, have better looking boyfriends, and freedom to attend late night parties and our jealousy reaches to the point that we become resentful in our thoughts towards them and wish nasty things to happen to them. In the situation above, the girl’s jealousy has soured the once dear friendship.
I was and still am jealous; it’s hard not to be. There is always someone upping you in the game. What we have to realize is that we have the ability to convert our jealousy into something productive by learning from it. Harboring the negative energy is like poison coagulating inside. It will slowly kill the optimism and take over your thoughts, in the manner that now others achievements become your priority leaving no space for yourself.
The solution, if there is one, is to create opportunities for your own self. I joined the Gym the other day after the realization that scrolling through fitness regimes on Tumblr is not taking me anywhere. The junior and I also came up with a solution for her situation; one is to first give her college mates a chance. They could probably be the best thing that happened to her. Another was to look for opportunities outside the college. She had been into social work during school, so joining a non-governmental organization came on the list; working for a cause gives you the profound satisfaction of doing something meaningful. I also suggested she either take up learning a new language or a dance form or any activity which she had been fancying but never tried. Three years of college is a long time to work towards the unachievable- perfection.
The junior of mine has accepted her situation. She is going to channel all the energy fuelled by jealousy into creating bigger opportunities for her. More success to her and all of us who have the green eye.
Image credits: fefetheteawitch.tumblr.com
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