Envy

@Firenze and @bbghitte have already published some stories about or related to envy. Do you know someone who is envious of what they do not have? Or do you at some point is envy of someone? 

As defined in Oxford Languages through Google, envy is a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.

I know that even if I did not state the meaning of envy, majority of us would know what that means. Honestly, I admit that I sometimes do feel envious of my friends. Why? They have work and that means they have money, they have a car, they have a condo, they are married and have a family of their own, they have branded things, they have travelled to some parts of the world and also in the differrent tourist destinations here in the Philippines and the list goes on and on. In short, I lack what they have and that is already the start of commiting a sin. We all know that envy is one of the 7 deadly sins in Roman Catholicisim.

For me, I think it is normal to feel that way but not to the point that you would immitate their lives or to the point that you are contesting with them that you do not want to lose to them. Or to the point that you would do something bad just to get what you want. Though sometimes being envious of others would only make you pity yourself at the end. Can you actually relate to that because I do feel pity myself sometimes?

I personally know some people who always want to show to people that they are rich eventhough they are not. They would spend their money trying to look rich even if in reality they are broke. I know there is nothing wrong with that but who are you fooling? Yourself or them? But in reality you are fooling both. You let people think that you are rich but you are not and you act rich even if you are not. I remembered this one person, she posted her brand new Apple iPhone 6s plus on her social media account. But that time it was already the time of Apple iPhone 8. But after few years, she then again posted an Apple Macbook Pro. Ok, so you have proved to your friends and the others that you are rich but the people around you or closest to you know that you did not use your money in buying those things. You may have faked other people but there will still be some people who knows the truth. This particular person is actually envious of someone that she wanted to prove that she can buy whatever the other person buys even with the skin care routine or to the makeup that the other person uses. Idolatry? It can be but it is more of envious to me. 

When I was young I know I have envied others that the following day I would have a new set of pens/pencils, erasers, pencil case a bag and a wallet. It was because I saw someone with a cute Polly Pocket pencil case. I do not know if you know that but it is like a mini doll house in a form of a pencil case but they are actually known for a pocket size doll house back in the days. So after school, I told my mom if we could drop by a mall because I will be buying stuffs for school but the truth is that I just wanted to go to the Sanrio store. See? Envy and lies. And then I asked my mom if we could also stop by the Sanrio store and I looked for the things that I wanted and asked her to buy it for me abd she bought me the things that I wanted. Until she noticed my style whenever I will ask her to drop by the mall.  LOL. So what I did before was to ask my dad to go to the mall whenever he would be the one to pick us to school. And he also noticed my style that he would not go down the car and would just give me money to buy what I wanted. LOL. 

I know my parents have told me when I was growing up that it is ok not to follow the trend and that it is ok if you don't have a new set of uniforms or new set of school supplies during the start of the year. At first I really did not like the idea because my classmates my say something bad about it. FOMO is that what they call now? If so yes, I fear of being left out when I was growing up. I know that fear eventually led to being envy. I am just lucky that I did not resort to doing anything bad just to get what I want.

But how do we stop ourselves from being envious? How do we overcome that feeling? 

The material things that I wanted growing up lessen and that I have learned that if I want to have something, I have to work for it. I think it was when I was in college when I saved my allowances so that I can buy a myself a new phone or the things that I want and even buy my brother whatever he wanted. It was when I was able to save and earn my own money was I able to value the things that I currently have and be contented with it. 

Self-contentment is the only answer to being envy. We can only stop being envious of someone if we only know how to be contented with what we have and do not have. If we always look for what we do not have, we neglect to appreciate the things that we currently have. If you want to be rich, then go make money. If you want to buy something, think first if it is really necessary or maybe you just want it because it is what is in or it is what your friend has. 

Instead of being envious of someone, why not use it as an inspiration for you to better yourself? Or why not use your dreams to motivate you in making it into a reality? I know most of us are envious of other people because they have this or they have that but we can also have those things if we will work hard for it right?

How about you? What are your thoughts with regards to envy? Do you have any stories that you want to share where you envird somebody? What happened after?

I hope that no matter how envy we are to others, we should be happy of someone's accomplishments and we should never compare ourselves to them as we all have different walks of life.