Own Your Jealousy

A significant part of the last nine months I have been mulling around this particular post. It has to do with the a single phrase I heard at BlogHer '10, "Own your jealousy!". This has stayed with me longer than I had initially thought it might, as evidenced by the fact that I neither wrote down the woman's name or blog--so that I could give her props. (She was however a food blogger from Austin in the "Little Fish, Big Pond" session.)

But here it is (May) and I think it's sound advice for so many facets of our lives. In the world or work, motherhood, blogging, fashion, etc. there will always be someone who rises faster, better, stronger or who gets an opportunity or an experience that you would have loved to partake in...and that's okay because there are also people who wish they were where you are.

It is so easy in the moment where someone else has pulled off something that you have yet to, to react with jealousy. Sometimes it just rises up and smacks us in the pit of our belly when we don't even intend for the feeling to be there.

I know for me this happens especially when I see a blogger do something that I have been "meaning" to do, but haven't done or having an experience that I had hoped to have. Since the "own your jealousy" comment, I always back up, take a deep breath and try to figure out where that jealous-just-got-punched-in-the-gut feeling is coming from and then push the jealousy aside and either push myself forward or let go.

That's right push yourself forward or let go.

How do you handle jealousy in your day-to-day interactions?