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The Truth About Jealousy: Why You Should Set Yourself Free

We've all been there. On the outside looking in. It happens to all of us and it's an indescribable feeling filled with bitterness, negativity and a special kind of self-loathing. But mostly it's filled with jealousy. You just wish that you could be where that person is, that you could have what they have. Because you seem to think that you would appreciate it that much more.

What's wrong with this picture is that you seem to think your incapable of finding a life that's yours. A life that's built for you. Change is the only thing in this life that is constant. Everything changes, always. We need to learn to embrace those changes, to roll with the punches. And to hold on to our sense of self while we're thrown under the waves of change that crash around us.

This world is absolutely huge. Yet more often than not, we're stuck in this small-town frame of mind. We let certain people dictate who we should and shouldn't be when there's a world of possibility around us. And yeah, there's room for all of us.

Stop comparing your behind the scenes to somebody else's highlight reel. Because I promise you they will never ever appear the same. The worst part about social media is that people pick and choose the parts of them that they wish to put on display. Real? sure. But not as real as when you get a coffee-stain on your shirt or when your pants rip in public. 

Life is messy, it's rarely perfect. You need to remember that. You need to bring yourself back down to earth.

You have people who look at you too, who wish they had a little piece of what you have. But you're so busy thinking about what you don't have or what could be better that it doesn't even occur to you. 

But please don't ever be that person. The person who takes and doesn't give back. You have a choice when you're hit with a feeling of jealousy. You have a choice to let it pass or to ruin another person's happiness. You should always pick the first option. Always. Because eventually when you end up where you need to be, you'll look back and realize how insignificant those emotions really were.

So what does life look like when you live it for yourself? Simple. You feel free, you feel lifted. You start to appreciate everything that has been given to you. And you set goals in order to crush them.

And just remember that the person that you think has it all together might actually be falling apart. Remember that saying, "If we put all of our problems into a bucket, you'd probably be quick to take your problems back." Things are never what they seem.

But at the end of the day, the person who matters most is yourself and you have to do what's right for you. And that means no longer surrounding yourself with negativity. No longer holding onto bitterness. Replacing all of those negative emotions with positive ones. Be happy for people. Just be really, really happy for people.

Because the more happy you are for others, the happier you'll be yourself. That's how it works. I promise.

"I will never ever burn out someone else's candles to make mine brighter." – Chelsea Handler

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