Hey Jealousy!

Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!

This week, Mom of Many picked the topic: Talk about someone you are jealous of and why.

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock

This is a tricky topic for me. We're commanded to not covet our neighbor's property. So jealousy is seen as immoral in that way. However, it's hard not to envy someone. Having said that, I don't think I'm jealous of a specific person. I used to be jealous of specific people in the past. It inspired me to want to do more with my life. These days, I envy certain types of people.

1. People who can successfully write novels. I so wish I could publish a novel, but I can't seem to get the motivation up and am supporting those who can do it instead. I've met some AMAZING writers and I only wish I could possess their talent for putting books together time after time. I'd love to go on a book tour and say what inspired me to write a bestseller.

2. People who get to go on vacation whenever they want. There's no denying it...I want to go on a real vacation. The only traveling I do is to visit family and friends (people could visit me too, hint hint). The last vacation I went on was to Las Vegas in 2006. My first child was 6 months old. Yes....5 1/2 years and two kids later and no sign of Disney World anywhere in sight yet. I hear my friends and other acquaintances talk about going on vacation and I just crave it even more!

3. People who are younger than me but in a higher position of power at their jobs. I've been in the job force for 12 years now. I started as an administrative assistant and am still an administrative assistant. I LOVE where I work, but I don't want to know that someone is in their 20's and a manager already (or in the corner office). I'm sure they're great at what they do and well deserving of the role, but it's also weird for me, honestly. I do get to assert myself as a "boss" for my book blog, but that's a different story. I'm glad to be appreciated for the work that I do at my job, but I sometimes still feel like I'm fresh out of college in the roles I've held over the years. I only hope to work in a more managerial role over time, if I can find the right fit at my organization.

4. People who can afford to send their kids to a private Jewish school without batting an eyelash. That's something very prevalent in our community. Thing is, even if we didn't need a school program for hearing loss, we'd probably still go the public school route. Otherwise, college is out of the question unless the kids earn a major scholarship. It's just annoying to get questioning looks about the choices we've made for our kids' schooling. We're in the middle between people who think private Jewish school is the end-all-be-all and people who think we'd be crazy to squander all our money on such an expenditure. I don't even know if the schooling matters in the end. We know people who went to private Jewish school and aren't observant now and people who went to public school and are more observant now than ever before. It would just be nice if the choice were easy (like the private schools were free or everyone in the neighborhood decided to go to public school instead). However, if sending your kids on the private school route is something that comes as easy and as natural for you as tying your shoes, then don't judge people who have harder decisions to make when it comes to their kids' schooling.

5. Women who go back to their pre-pregnancy weight by three months after they delivered a baby. I've been working out and (trying to) eat healthier (I have the occasional slip-up, I'm only human...) and I still can't shed those last 10 pregnancy pounds. I still wear maternity clothes. I have a lot of regular clothes and they're still too tight or look horrible on me. This makes getting dressed very stressful every morning.

6. People who have gotten within touching distance of my favorite celebrities. Enough said!

I am happy with a lot of things in my life, but it's hard not to envy people sometimes. Oddly enough, as I was working on this post, I found out that the husband of a close friend of mine won a HUGE amount of money (and a vacation, I believe) on a well-known game show. I'm very happy for them, but it's hard not to be the teensiest bit jealous. Who wouldn't be jealous of someone who struck it big on a game show or in the lottery?!?

All in all, jealousy is a vicious circle. Someone may be jealous of me for all I know, but I'm jealous of other people and those people are probably jealous of another group of people for various reasons. It's like a jealousy food-chain! I'm guessing the person at the top of that chain is the one who doesn't have anything to be jealous of. I'm also guessing that they're a higher power if that's the case!