14 Mar That Thing Called Jealousy

I would assume that most of us have already encountered jealousy. Inevitably, someone could be jealous of us because of what we achieved in life. We became jealous of someone because he grabs more attention and applause we thought we only deserve. Jealousy, if not identified well, is dangerous. It’s more than the typical jealousy you feel when your crush likes your bestfriend.

Let’s sneak into the meaning of jealousy:

“Jealousy is an emotion, and the word typically refers to the thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, concern, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of status or something of great personal value, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, helplessness and disgust.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jealousy

People become jealous for many reasons. Even if we have everything we wanted, it won’t guarantee that we won’t be jealous. We would still feel unhappy of other people’s success and celebrate when someone loses his dignity.

Why are we afraid to accept that there is someone better than us? Why is it difficult for us to rejoice when a “so-called enemy” got his recent promotion? Do we really think that we deserve much?

Jealousy’s power is both deceptive and destructive. We won’t know we have it until we become honest to ourselves. When we fail to identify our personal issues, we will find ourselves talking trashes about a person. We will tend to disregard the truth and find faults with others.  We live life like there’s always a competition. We must prove that we are better than anyone.

In leadership, when the value of service to others is gone, we force others to serve us. We use power to drive them instead of inspiring them to perform well. We use people to get what we want. We hide our jealousy under our strength, authority and leadership position. Jealousy builds walls between you and other people.

The Bible describes jealousy like a cancer. (Proverbs 14:30 GNT) It consumes us more than we could think. Jealousy is an emotion- it can be overcome. We can get rid of jealousy.

• Stop comparing your life to other people’s success. Your life journey is unique.
• Stick to your strengths. Accept that there are people who are better than you.
• Spot your insecurities and deal with it. Your self-honesty paves way for you to see the good things in other people.
• Your position and authority are not license to think less of others. Be a mentor and lift people up.
• Become a servant-leader. Spend time to help the ones in need.

Those who are jealous demand attention, respect and honor. Secured leaders value others and serve them with compassion. Inspiring leaders help others become a better version of themselves.