Envy

We are always told that we should never compare ourselves to those around us. That everyone experiences things at their own pace, in their own time, in their own way.

Envy is one of those emotions that we know in our hearts that we shouldn't feel and yet it so naturally overwhelms us at times.

If we are honest, we all envy people for the things which they have that we do not. Nine times out of ten, they are material things that we simply fancy and will probably one day save up enough money to afford for ourselves. Sometimes they are physical features which we wish we could capture in a little bottle and smothers all over our own skin to make us a hundred times more attractive. Sometimes, it is something as simple as sight.

I get jealous of people who were simply blessed with the ability to see all the time. Because why do they deserve it and I don't? Why am I the one who has to struggle her way through things that mean nothing to others, solely because I was born different to them. How will I ever reach the dreams they seem to scale as though they are shallow walking stiles when everything is so much more complicated for me?

It's definitely not that I would wish them to be in my position, while I take theirs. I just us both to have the same chances of happiness as one another.

It's very difficult not to be just that little bit bitter when you witness somebody doing something that you know would take you forever, as if it was second nature to them. And I seem to be surrounded by that constantly.

It sounds like a toddler's tale of "it's not fair", but I think we can all relate in one way or another.

Envy is born of passion. Passion uncontrollably spreads like wild-fire.

The best way I have found to cope with envy is by turning it into inspiration. Rather than thinking, "Why can't I do that when everyone can?" I think "If everyone else can, why can't I?!" Usually, if you think about it long and hard enough, there are actually less answers to that question than you maybe first imagined there might be.

One thing I have learnt about myself is that, if I really want to do something badly enough, I refuse to let my list of excuse outweigh my temptation to try - to give it all I've got and more.

That's passion at its best in my opinion.

I believe that the more we can recognise envy to be passion, the more we can channel that passion into achieving everything we were once so envious of.

Sometimes you have to try a whole lot harder than other people, but the greater the struggle, the more precious the reward.