I have six friends who have always had some combination of the following: Good looks. Happy marriages. Dream jobs. The ability to travel extensively. Plenty of money. Gorgeous houses. Excellent health. A secure retirement nest egg. And I’m happy for them. Really I am. It couldn’t happen to nicer people.
But I have to admit that sometimes when I hear of their latest success or incredible run of good luck, I get a little irritated as well. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m jealous as hell. Because mine has not been a life full of those attributes, and at my age, the ship has sailed on most of those things. That’s just a simple fact. Most of us were not born with the Midas touch. Lord knows I wasn’t.
It’s not that I wish them divorce or unemployment or illness. I don’t wish that on anyone, especially on someone I love. It’s just that when I congratulate them, at the same time my inner child is wailing, “Why not meeeeeeeee?” If that makes me seem a little less sincere, I can’t seem to help it.
That’s a really putrid feeling to have, because I can also look over my shoulder and see millions, if not billions, of people who are much worse off than I’ll ever be. I seem to have hit that sweet spot where I feel bitter, and simultaneously feel guilty about that bitterness. Great.
The advice I give myself, which I seem to struggle to take, is to stop comparing myself to others and just live my life, warts and all. What can I say? I’m a work in progress.
[Image credit: pinterest.com]
The View from a Drawbridge 
I feel this way about rich people in general. I mean, not all of them, but ones who have it handed to them and then act like jerks. Or worse, like the Koch brothers get involved in buying politics.
Yeah. Okay, maybe I could wish unemployment on the Koch brothers.
might be good for them
It’d be like exposing a blind albino mole to the direct sunlight.
HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think those of us who weren’t so lucky in all those things feels a bit jealous if we have friends who are. We are human, we feel things and some of those things are not the nicest. Now, I’m at that age that I’m just happy to be able to get up every morning and have a roof over my head and food in the pantry. I will make my own luck, one day. If not this lifetime, hopefully next.
I also find that most people who seem so lucky and happy are miserable about something. They just haven’t said what yet. I think it would surprise you if your friends were ever completely honest and let you know what bothers them.
Yeah, you’re right. There’s probably something. But I’m guessing it’s a lot easier to cope with that something when you don’t have to worry about money.
Hm, you probably have a good point there.