BEING JEALOUS IS A WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY

My life is far from perfect. I look at how other people are living, and you know what? I’m not jealous of them. Happy for them, yes. But not jealous. You see, we all have our own lives to live. And we all have different lives and different means of living and different goals that we want out of life. We all expect different things. Some people want to work in the fashion industry. Others in the medical field. Others are firefighters. Police officers. Financial experts. Lawyers. Business owners. Bloggers. Digital content creators for social media. Actors. Television producers/directors/writers. Teachers. Military. Housewives (and even househusbands these days). There are so many different careers and expertise in this work. But do they create the perfect life? Yes and no.

Exactly, I said it. Yes, they are perfect. And no, they are not perfect. But wait. Let me explain. Think for a minute about what your current career is. Now think – is that the career that you really wanted to be in? Do you love your job; truly love your job? I’m a big believer in that it doesn’t make difference in what your paycheck is because at the end of the day, if you just spent 8-16 hours of your day working at a job that you can’t stand, then you’re doing something wrong. That’s just my personal opinion.

For example, I love the healthcare and medical field. But you know what? I despise nursing homes and subacute care centers. So, I won’t work there. I’ve tried working in a few of them. They don’t treat their patients like people. They don’t treat them like anything really. The few I’ve attempted to work in - I was told to not talk with any of the patients. To just give them their medication and leave the room. That’s not that type of nurse that I am. I actually care about people and when I walk into a patient’s room I’m going to ask them how they day/night was and I’m going to make sure that they’re ok. Some people never get visitors. So, I want them to know that they are not alone. But apparently facilities don’t want that. The money would’ve been decent. But my physical and mental health would not have been. And that is more important to me than any amount of money.

I believe in living your best life. I believe that no one can tell you what your best life is. I believe that you get out of life what you put into life. Some people love working in a stressful environment 16 hours a day. Some people prefer a more relaxed working environment. Some people are able to live comfortably on a lower salary. Others are all about the money and all they want to do is work and get as much money as they can and buy all of the brand-named things. As for me, I have a roof over my head, I have food on the table, my bills are paid, I have a vehicle to get places in, and my cat is taken care of. Those are my basic necessities. I might not live in a fancy house, or in the best area, or own the most expensive vehicle, but you know what? I’m ok with that. I buy store brand food. I’m ok with that. I don’t buy brand named clothes. I’m ok with that. I’ve been known to buy sunglasses at a dollar store. And guess what? They work just as well as the big brand-named sunglasses. I’m ok with that.

When people speak of their ideal life, they want a rich spouse, the biggest house, the nicest car, to go on lavish vacations, to own the nicest and most extravagant clothes. They want all the bells and whistles. But are they truly happy? Do they even know what true happiness is? Do they truly appreciate what they have? I feel that they take things for granted. If they had to give up even half of what they have, they would be miserable. That makes them materialistic. Something that I definitely am not. So how can I even be jealous of people like that? I’m still happy for them, don’t get me wrong. But are they happy for themselves?

Would I like to make more money? Yes, it would be nice to have a larger savings for emergency situations. But if I had more money, would I buy the brand name things? Would I live beyond my means? No. No, I would not. I’m ok with living withing my means. So, for me, this is my ideal life. Right here. The life that I’m living right now. And you know what? I’m ok with that.