Envy and Realizations

'Envy - a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.' (Google)

Have you ever envied someone for being so successful, rich and famous, talk of the town or being pretty or good looking?There are so many things or scenarios that could lead you to that feeling. And it was never a good feeling, very disgusting!

When I my sister went to college, I started to feel envious of her. Everytime she comes home, she was treated special. She never cook, help in house chores and she would always be the one that our mother would bring with her in the market plus she could sleep as long as she wants. Unlike us whom our mother will always wants us to be in a hurry, wake us up at 630-7 in the morning. She would tell us to finish our meal, our chores so that we could take a bath early and that she could wash our clothes before Mr. Sun shed its light and that our clothes be easily dried up. I thought that it was unfair.

When I entered college and experience life there, away with our family, I realized how hard it is for her. She lives with our relatives and she have her own share of chores. She wash her own clothes, would study until late night just to excel in her subjects, would budget her allowance which was not that big at the time and more. I realized that I was being unfair for thinking that way about her. She deserves all the rest and attention that our parents have given her everytime she comes home during sem-breaks and long holidays. I admire and love her for being tough, responsible, and selfless sister for all of us.

I have a friend who deactivated his social media accounts because the posts of his friends' achievement got into his nerve and he felt the pressure and somehow felt envious. Instead of considering them as an inspiration to also work hard and achieve his goals, he became demotivated and lost track. He resigned and shifted to another career which is far different from his chosen field; from engineer to audit. When we got the chance to talk to him and know him better, he said that he feels that he deserve more than what his friends have because at a young age he already became a manager, he has this licence, he can do this and that, and more. But then he said that he realized at a certain point that being affected and envious of other people's achievement turned him into a different person, someone who is so upright and who cannot accept defeat. He put too much pressure in his shoulder that he could no longer carry and handle.

When he noticed that something was already wrong, he slowed down. Get out from his comfort zone, free his mind from those negative traits, joined hiking groups, explore and take adventures that he even had a tattoo with the famous tattoo artist Whang-od. He never felt satisfied with what he have when he let go of that envy feeling. He realized that he is successful and happy in his ways and that is more important.

I remember a story of a documentary series I watched on YouTube. The family lives in an island. Early in the morning, the father will go fishing and his kids will wait for him to arrive before they could go to school. These fish that the father would catch were not intended for breakfast or their meal. The kids will sell these fish on the way to their school so that they will have allowance. Before they could reach the school, they need to row their boat and travel for 1-hour.

The kids were so admirable because they will not use their money to buy snacks. They will use it to buy rice, sugar and canned goods so that they will have something to eat when they get home. When the reporter asked why would you not buy milk for your younger siblings, and the eldest answered, because he is not used to drinking milk, they never tasted any and they are happy with sugar and water alone.

The reporter interviewed the head of the family, why did they choose to live in an island and not in the city and the father said, 'because I don't want my kids to be disheartened and envy when they see their playmates toys, new clothes, etc. and I could not provide any of those because I don't have extra money to buy them. I don't want them to feel very unfortunate. I choose to live here with them so that I could inspire them to study hard and dream higher that one day, we will all be lifted up from poverty.'

There are a lot of stories about envy around. We should keep in mind that being envious is good if we use them to push us, inspire and motivate us to also dream higher and to be better and not otherwise.

...^•°...

Thanks for reading and God bless us all.

Keep inspiring. Keep smiling.

Lead image is from Unsplash.
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