The Green Gene

You know that feeling you have when a friend you’ve known all your life gets a job before you do? When your closest paramours return from far-off lands and regale you with tales of revelry and wonder, while you listen agape? When you see near and dear get ahead in life while you’re still trying to find your feet? However hard you might try to suppress it, the feeling boils underneath the surface, festers in our gut and slowly consumes you from the inside – welcome, to the world of jealousy.

Don’t be ashamed, being jealous is a natural reaction – everyone has experienced it in their lives at some point or the other. Humans are a complicated species and nobody is immune to the feelings of insecurity, anxiety and fear. More than anything else, the greatest human fear of all is the fear of exclusion – and it can drive us to act in ways that we later regret.

Recently, one of my friends returned from a student foreign exchange program from Europe – that holy grail of tourist destinations. He had the unique opportunity to visit a plethora of exotic locales across a number of countries as a part of his semester abroad, including all of the “must-see” places – the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Swiss Alps & the Leaning Tower of Pisa – among others. His tales filled me with wonder and admiration relegating me to rue what could have been. But more significantly, that green-eyed monster that is synonymous with human nature reared its ugly head again – I was left feeling a tad jealous. 

How can you fight this feeling? Well, you don’t – it’s no crime after all. To deny one’s natural feelings or emotion is to deny the essence of being human itself. No, denial is not the answer – rather, acceptance and recognition of the sensation is the first step to dealing with it. Understanding the reasons behind your reaction is the next step – introspection is what separates men from lesser evolved forms of life. And with self-reflection, comes wisdom. More often than not, you will find your feelings of envy melting away. 

Ever heard of the word ‘vicarious’? Living vicariously means to live through others – experience in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person. Sometimes, living vicariously is the best way to live.