How To Control Jealousy and Stop Being Jealous in Life
Have you been in a constant battle with a sense of jealousy lately? Having a hint of jealousy from time to time isn’t a big deal. But the moment it starts to take over you and begins to affect your personal and professional life, that’s when you know it’s time to do something about it. Much like any of your other feelings, jealousy is also one that is well within your control. It might have tricked you into believing that you can’t do anything to protect against the harms of feeling jealous, but it couldn’t be farther from reality. As a matter of fact, now that you know that it has been causing problems for you lately, you are already a step closer to finding a cure and getting rid of the frustration once and for all.
Let’s begin with a lighter note. Remember that the feeling of jealousy is common for everyone and a pinch of it doesn’t hurt anyone including yourself. But if you feel the urge to lash out or throw a tantrum because you are feeling jealous, it is a hint that the emotion is getting the best of you. Your actions that aren’t based on facts and logic but are merely premised on your negative emotions like anger, jealousy, insecurity, etc. can only result in a negative outcome. Taking this into consideration, we have prepared an action plan for you that you can conveniently follow to get over your feeling of jealousy and protect your personal and professional life against the damage that it can do.
Focusing On Making Your Mind Calm And Peaceful
Much like any of your negative feelings, jealousy is just another way for your mind to play games with you. If only you could manage to break out of its spell and make an analysis of the situation, it will become evident for you that your sense of jealousy is entirely pointless.
Therefore, a tried and tested technique to fight against jealousy is to do everything that’s in your power to make your mind calm and peaceful. In this regard, the ancient Buddhist practices of meditation and mindfulness are highly effective. Such practices activate the natural relaxation response of the body and lend a helping hand in removing the disturbing, troubling, or otherwise negative thoughts out of your mind including that of jealousy. It will help you restore your mood and make you feel happier and more content with your life, thanks to the stimulation of happy hormones.
Meditation and Mindfulness have made it to the top of our list of strategies to fight jealousy because it is one of the simplest to follow and highly time-effective techniques which can be implemented at any time and any place. You don’t need more than a few minutes in a silent, peaceful environment to get the best results out of meditation in terms of curing your timely feelings of jealousy.
Focus On The Life Outside Of Social Media
This is a specifically useful tip for people who constantly find themselves stuck in an endless loop of jealousy. The feeling is no longer temporary for them but has turned into a constant beating inside their head. If you identify yourself as one such individual, it is time for you to let go of the social media for a while and focus on the life outside of it. The reason is that social platforms have a way of presenting others’ lives as nearly perfect. People choose to share the good they have in their lives on such platforms while the bad is concealed without a soul getting a hint about it. This is what increases the likelihood of you drooling over the kind of life that they are living and hating yours even more. If you are already bound in the dungeon of jealousy, the pretentious perfection of others’ lives on social media can be the strongest trigger that fills your head up with jealousy and hurt your mental health in the long run.
Turn The Tables
So one of your best friends got an all-new iPhone X while you are still stuck with an old iPhone 6S. Naturally, a sense of jealousy is stretching inside your head trying to break the barriers and push you into acting out. A simple cure to keep it locked in the darkest compartment of your mind would be to turn the tables. Put an effort into pretending to be happier for your friend than you actually are. Congratulate him, celebrate with him. Go all out in showing your excitement. If it was your colleague who did really well at his monthly presentation, be the first one to appreciate and praise him. Boost his morale. You’d be amazed to see how a small effort into pushing yourself to be excited about others’ achievements can make every last drop of jealousy disappear instantly.
Another effective strategy for people who are constantly under the burden of jealousy is to take some time and create a list of things that you are grateful for in your life. It could be anything at all. Be it materialistic achievements like your property or the new car that you bought last month, or something more spiritual like the love and support of your family. Even if it’s your hair or your smile that you are grateful for, jot it down. The best part of using this trick is that you don’t even have to wait for it to finish. Right in the middle of the process as you are making a list of things that you appreciate about your life, you’ll start to be filled with contentment that’ll slowly suffocate jealousy out of your mind. The more you focus on your own strengths, the lesser will you have the urge to be jealous of others.
Socializing Is A Feed For Your Mental Health
Much like any other negative feeling, getting over jealousy is a matter of how well you can distract yourself. All of your negative emotions use the time that you are alone with your thoughts to grow and evolve until they take control of your entire mind. What does it tell you about a simple cure to keeping your negative emotions from hurting your personal and professional life? Socializing. Yes, here’s a small experiment for you to try. The next time someone tells you of his achievement or a new possession and you find the fire of jealousy bursting inside your head again, try socializing. Surround yourself with people, have a random conversation, particularly a funny one and before you know it, you’ll completely forget why were you supposed to be jealous in the first place.
Remember that the kind of people that you socialize with also has a major impact on whether you’ll feel positive about yourself and your life, or would you open a gate for negativity like jealousy to fill up your head. If you have those so-called friends who are always whining about the shortcomings of their lives and how nothing good has ever happened to them in their entire lives, it is likely that you will end up adopting the same personality; someone who just can’t stop being jealous of others because he is too blind to see his own strengths and the wonderful life that he is leading.
No Need To Shy Away From Asking For Help
In the end, of course, for the sake of your mental health, we would like to highlight that there is no need to panic if you are unable to win the battle against jealousy all by yourself. You won’t be alone if the DIY tips and tricks fail to work for you in coping with the aforementioned negative emotion. Instead of beating yourself up for not trying hard enough or standing in front of the mirror every day asking the same question of why you are like this, it is always a better idea to get an appointment and see a counselor. Such professionals are specifically trained to help you overcome the emotions that are getting the best of you including jealousy. There is no need to shy away from asking for help. The only priority is protecting your mental health against the harms of jealousy. If you don’t succeed in getting it under control all by yourself, let the professionals take it from there and guide you to the path of victory.
Last Word
Many of the negative emotions known to mankind are useful in particular scenarios. For instance, your sense of fear enables you to keep your guard up against an incoming threat. Your anger can help fire up motivation at times. But jealousy and being envious is perhaps the only feeling that is always negative and is entirely useless. It’s a poison that targets your mental health and kills it softly. If you are done being overwhelmed by jealousy, the above-mentioned information is your ticket to a smooth and clean break up with it. Are you ready to catch this opportunity and fix it for good?
