The Undiscovered Country

You Are Not My Friend . . .

Jealousy. I wish you'd stop visiting unannounced. You saunter in, without even a knock on the door. You make yourself comfortable by sitting next to me on my couch, far too close. I can smell your rancid breath as you whisper your nasty thoughts into my ears.

The worst part is, I can't place all the blame on you. I don't kick you out the moment you walk through the door. I don't move away when you sit next to me. I don't cover your mouth, or cover my ears when you speak.

I listen, as much as I tell myself that I shouldn't.

And your timing is always impeccable.

You only show up when I read about other people's successes while I continue to flounder. No. It's worse than that. I only dream of success, and don't work enough to make it happen. Those people who succeed faster than me? They probably worked harder, and smarter than me. Therefore, do I really have the cause to complain? To moan and wallow in my frustration?

Or it could be God said, “It's time” to them, when he's asking me to wait a little longer. Do the reasons really matter? They shouldn't, because God's timing has never failed me, not once.

So I have decided, at least for this moment, to give jealousy the boot out the door. It's not welcome in my home. I must instead use that energy to actually work toward my goals. How's that for a novel idea?

As long as I continue to do that, success will come. Sure I may fail a few times along the way, but that comes with living life. We all fail more than we succeed. The singular difference between a failure and a success is the successful person never gives up no matter how many times he or she has failed to reach their goal.

I'm not so special that I deserve to never fail. Some will wait even longer than me.

And that's life.

Allowing jealousy to whisper in my ear won't change anything, except make me miserable and waste even more time.