Hi, I'm Diane Groussell and I'm also known as Silver
Dispedience. Welcome to the Silver
Dispedience Podcast. Today I want to talk to you
about envy, and I'm going to address my necklace at the end
of this podcast. Back in my early 20s, in a
conversation with a wise friend who's 20 years my senior, I
started whining about the life I didn't have.
When I finished, she patiently pointed out that envy and
jealousy weren't my most attractive traits.
Then she said Diane, if everyone in the world put all their
troubles in their own suitcase, and then they had the
opportunity to throw their suitcase into the street to grab
a different one. Once all those suitcases started
popping open from the impact of being thrown into that street,
we'd all run back as fast as we possibly could to grab our
original problems back filled in that suitcase.
All these years later, I'm still not immune to envy, and I'm not
sure I'd believe anyone who said they were.
There will likely always be something we see that we want,
that we imagine that we covet or dream about, but somebody else
seems to have. In fact, social media will
guarantee this. But when I find envy really
creeping into my heart, I try to flip it and see it as an impetus
to kick start a new plan of action.
You see, I look at it now as if if someone has something that I
think I want, I should be celebrating.
Seeing what another has means that whatever it is that I think
I want, if I'm alive it might be possible.
We both have the same 24 hours in a day, so maybe what they
have that I want is attainable for me as well with a little
effort. So instead of wasting the time
being envious, I try to determine what is the pathway
I'll need to take to get it. But frankly, sometimes if I'm
really honest with myself, I think about the effort that will
be necessary to accomplish or achieve what I think and see
another has accomplished and achieved.
Sometimes the attraction fades because I realize while it might
be nice, maybe it's not so important to me because I'm not
prepared to invest the time and commitment to make that
possible. So honesty during moments of
envy is very important. Steve Jobs had far less time on
earth than many of us had to date, including me.
He died younger than I am during his earthly visit.
He made apple products must haves for many.
I know I use a lot of them. He made gazillions in the
process, for himself and for other people.
Do I envy all that wealth? No, not at all.
You know, money. Having money is better than no
money. But I'm still alive and full of
possibilities. So are you.
And he's not. Unhappiness comes from
undervaluing what we have right now, this moment, while
overvaluing what we think others have.
And sometimes that's because we're comparing our insides to
what we're seeing on their outsides, which, again, it's
very easy to have happen with social media.
But as Thomas Brown said, let age, not envy, draw wrinkles on
nice skin and cheeks. So let me talk about my
necklace, because if you want to expand and think a little bit
more about this topic of envy, I want to tell you very briefly.
My favorite book on the topic is the necklace.
It's actually a short story by Guille de Molpeson, and you can
find it probably online or in a bookstore.
But it's called the Necklace and it's about two women and a
necklace that's made of. Well, I'm not going to tell you
what it's made of, but I highly recommend you read the book if
you want to think a little bit more about envy and why.
Maybe there's a reason. It's one of the seven sins.
I'm Diane Grussell. I'm also known as Silver
Disobedience, and I want to thank you for stopping in to
listen to this podcast. Please subscribe.
You can also find me at Silver Disobedience dot Rocks my
website which has inspirational content on a daily new every
day. Thanks again.
Bye bye. See you soon.