Jealousy is, metaphorically, a disease. Having people jealous of you, and you haven’t a clue why, isn’t necessarily exhausting as it is confusing and annoying, but you, at best, thrive above it.
Jealousy is not a new concept and has been around for centuries before the famous internet was invented. However, with advanced technologies and progressive mindsets, we can get to multiple roots as to why someone may be jealous of you.
So, right now, you are probably sitting around and wondering why old Bobby Ray may have been acting mean to you for all those years, so are some discoveries that I’ve found that may provide some answers.
Why Are People Jealous Of Me?
1. You Make Fun of Yourself
You turn yourself into a punchline before anyone else can. You feel comfortable enough to make fun of yourself, which can annoy those wanting to make fun of you first.
You don’t take yourself too seriously and are living your authentic self, which can enrage “haters,” so their jealousy will become more apparent.
2. You’re Successful
Success has been blessed for you, but that person is not at the level that you are, or they feel you are overstepping them and are prone to become jealous.
Success, for some, can be seen as competition with others, so if someone, for example, you, are reaching their level of success and taking the attention away from them, they will not like that and throw shade at you.
On the flip side, if you are reaching a level of success that the other person may not be able to achieve just yet, then they will become jealous by trying to sabotage you or downplay your accomplishments.
Jealousy can coincide with success much more than many would think, especially among the most successful.
3. Dysfunctional Personal Life
Their lives are dysfunctional, and they use it as an excuse to take it out on you. If anyone has a bad home life, personal life, in general, for distraction purposes, they will likely become jealous of you if they see you as more functional and happier.
Dysfunctional people will take their anger and frustrations out, verbally or however else, on others they perceive as functional because it is the easiest thing to do as opposed to facing their problems.
While you or anyone else should feel sympathetic towards the person, it can be understood that miserable people do sad things for attention and relief.
4. You’re Honest
You are honest with yourself, your morals, and ethics and are not willing to change for anyone, but your haters are jealous of this.
Unlike others, you have a deeper self-awareness of yourself and are willing to admit your faults and change for the better, while others are not at that place yet but want to be where you are.
These people will find ways to make you feel bad about yourself, but keeping your honesty, you will not let them get to you, making them jealous.
5. Insecurity Overtakes Them
They are insecure within themselves. If someone puts you down and dumbs down your feelings or tries to control you, they are likely uncertain.
Jealousy can coincide with insecurity or, per another term, an inferiority complex. This term originated from an Australian psychologist named Alfred Adler and helps determine why people often debilitate and demotivate themselves.
Often more than not, insecurity, or an inferiority complex, does not happen overnight but can stem from experiences that can be had over time, even starting from childhood or the messages that are often displayed through your parents, peers around you, and the media.
While this is not a ploy for garnering that jealous person’s sympathy, what can be said is that, again, jealousy is often taught and learned through others and can be ingrained in the brain.
6. You Don’t Take Mess
You stand up for yourself. You do not tolerate disrespect from jealous people, which can make them even more jealous of you.
On the flip side, if they see you not tolerating disrespect from anyone else, they can become jealous due to their insecurities of not feeling like they can do the same.
Everyone is brave in their way, but people see the superb form of bravery as having someone able to stand up for themselves.
7. Different Personalities
Those wanting to lead successful lives have an image in their head of what personalities would entail for a successful and likable person. However, if someone “disrupts” that, they are likely confused by this.
Someone with an outgoing, extroverted personality will not understand nor take well to an introverted, more toned-down personality who manages to grab all the attention they want.
They can become jealous if they cannot understand this level of success and attention that the other person, who seems different from them, is getting.
8. Superiority Complex
Those who love the attention and feel they deserve constant validation over others tend to have a superiority complex about themselves.
Superiority complexes are one’s belief that they are, essentially, better than others, and their accomplishments and talents are no match for others.
When someone like yourself disrupts this mindset, their attitudes will show for it by insulting you or downplaying your accomplishments.
So, those people have an issue with not being “#1” at everything and decide to take it out on you and anyone else that bests them.
9. You Attention Grab
Let’s say that you and another person, theoretically the person that is jealous of you, are in a setting with many other people. But, somehow, you are the “attention grabber” in this situation.
This, however, upsets the other person because they wanted the attention, and you took it away.
You’re an attention-grabber. This is not a bad thing, but you’re just a very charismatic and attractive person, and that is admirable, but it will also attract jealous people to you.
10. You’re Unlikable
Virtually, there is typically a reason that someone is jealous of you, but there are rarities where the person just does not like you, so they resort to jealousy.
Typically, in fandoms, this reason is more likely for jealousy to ensure if they want to choose their favorite over you, so they will become jealous over how you are more successful than their favorites and question why.
While this reason is not excusable, nor any other reason, this seems to become normalized more as the years go on and technology and social media further advance along with the nature of fandoms.
11. You’re Incomparable
Have a parent or friend compare that person to you that you have no interest in and vice versa. This can turn into jealousy.
It is not a nice feeling to have someone be compared to you because, overall, it hurts. You and that person that’s jealous of you are incomparable, but somehow others try to do the complete opposite.
While it is not excusable to treat you, or any other person, in any way because of jealousy, there is an empathy behind it because that person feels like they cannot be their person.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on why you get annoyed when someone talks too much, why you are so smart, and why you laugh at everything.
Conclusion
No one should exhibit any jealousy. People should be happy for the success of the other, but this is easier said than done.
When you make it your mission to become jealous of others, you are taking away the time you could’ve used to work on yourself and work towards your own successes.
You are, in essence, blocking yourself from becoming great because you are taking the time out of your day to bring someone down. After all, you don’t like them or feel as though you deserve what they have, and they don’t.
Removing this thinking will not make things in your brain more accessible because it is normal to have stressors, but ensuring that the other person is one less thing you must think about and worry about.