Thursday, April 5, 2012

E: Envy

E:  Thou shalt not envy.  I think one of the things that comes with maturity is the learned behavior of not wasting energy on useless emotions.  Envy, jealousy is an uglier word for it, is one of the most useless of time drains. 

I wish my blog had a thousand followers. I know bloggers who have that many readers but I also know they reached that summit by hard work.  I try to learn from them. 

I met my first critique partner at my very first writing conference.  Since then, she's become a very successful multi-published author.  She's very successful and if often now asked to be on author panels at writer conferences similar to that one we met at as newbies.  I'm very happy for her and buy all her books.

Another friend of mine writes fantasy though his is darker than mine.  He has a great agent and a contract for multiple books with a publisher I would love to work with.  His writing is great.  I read his book and try to learn what works in them and how I can improve my own fantasy novels. 

It's important not to worry about the competition except to use them to learn from.  Concentrate on the page in front of you, the one you're writing.  Don't concern yourself with what you perceive as lucky breaks coming to others and skipping over you.  Envy is a wasted emotion and can only bring down your own enthusiasm.

Do you fight envy? Have you had someone act jealous of your position or your success?

16 comments:

Tonja said...

I think we need to focus our energy on what we're doing. Hard work pays off.

Anonymous said...

Hello! Stopping by for the A to Z Challenge. Negative emotions are such a time waster and an energy zapper. If we stay positive and keep moving forward, great things will happen.

Susanne
PUTTING WORDS DOWN ON PAPER

Unknown said...

I envy you for having a critique partner who went onto great things because it must've been all down to your excellent critiquing!!!!

Unknown said...

I completely agree with you on the fact that, I believe as we mature being envious of others tends to be easier to control.
Yes, as an office manager I had a girl that ran errands for me, she was envious of my position and relationship with the owners.

Stopping by via the A - Z Challenge, I've added you via GFC.

Feel free to visit me at
http://www.scatteredmusings.net/2012/04/buying-car/

Bish Denham said...

I gave up jealously and envy long, long ago. Like you said, it's a total waste of time and energy.

Lynn Proctor said...

everyone envies--but i always like what my husband says--"i can't cash their paycheck"

JANU said...

Just do what you want to do and enjoy doing it.
My link -
http://janukulkarni.blogspot.in/

Bossy Betty said...

I just wish I had written this post.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

We just have to be the best us!
And are you SURE you want a thousand followers...?

Anonymous said...

Fortunately I do not envy other people and their successes. I'm happy for them. I do have other shortcomings, but envy isn;t one of them.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Envy is interesting.

I guess I am still new enough to all of this that I look at my peers and other bloggers and think "wow I have a lot to learn from them" and sometimes "wow, why the hell did the do that??" ;)

I am trying to read all the A to Z blogs, but coming back to the ones I really like.
Looking forward to seeing what you do all month!

Tim
The Other Side
The Freedom of Nonbelief

Mimi said...

i wish my blog had 1000 followers too. And maybe even a few paying customers (most of my paintings ARE for sale) but hey, I'll take the half dozen who post. better than none.
Mimi Torchia Boothby Watercolors

Jemi Fraser said...

I'm really not a jealous person at heart. I like my life - and I'm used to not always getting what I want :P So, thankfully, most of the time I'm just plain old happy for them :)

Unknown said...

I don't think I'm envious of anything, but I know of a few people who've been envious of little successes I've had here and there (a good result on an exam, a new job etc.) and my reply is always, "wanting what I have is fine, but coveting it doesn't bring you any closer to getting it yourself."


Jamie Gibbs
Fellow A-Z buddy
Mithril Wisdom

Sarah Tokeley said...

I agree, envy truly is a waste of time. I don't think I have anything that anyone would ever envy me :-)

Cate Masters said...

I have exactly the same attitude, Susan. Rather than envy, learning from those you admire is more important. Negative feelings just hold you down more. There's room in the big pool for everyone. :)