Further Thoughts on Envy
Reader Christina left this rockin comment on my Red with Envy blog (two blogs ago). (I hope she doesn’t mind me shouting her out):
If it makes you feel any better…some of us are a wee bit envious of you for being published with such fabulous books (especially the one about letters)!
Be proud of what you’ve accomplished, it takes far more courage than many of us have to write a book, much less two.
Based on what I’ve read so far, I don’t doubt we’ll see great things in the future.
Many things happened (at once!) when I read this. First, I was overwhelmingly flattered—thank you Christina for your very kind words! I was also very humbled—Yes Samara, you should stop and be very grateful for all that you DO have. And, finally, I was reminded. I was reminded of a point about envy that I didn’t make before. . .
I forgot that you can ALWAYS be envious of other people. You can have all the things—attention, beauty, money, success—that everyone else seemingly wants and still be unsatisfied. The grass can always be greener. You can still want what other people have. I’m sure Lily Koppel has envy. Giselle and Madonna must have their moments, too. That’s why it’s such a good idea to get over it now. Whatever the circumstance may be. Don’t say, “Well, when I have this or that and the other thing THEN I won’t envy anymore.” Of course we will! We’ll always want want want unless we make an effort not to. I know, easier said than done.
I will say that I believe we have all of our emotions for a reason, and envy can serve as a motivator. If we see something someone else has and figure out how to pursue it rather than pout about not having it, then it can be good. This has been my attempted method for dealing with envy as of late.
In other news: I’ve been responding to comments left on blog posts more and more. Feels like a conversation! I thought I’d make it known in case you leave a comment and want to check back and see if I’ve responded. And if you don’t, that’s fine, too.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Oh, glad you liked the comment! After I posted it I felt a bit stalkerish for gushing over your books all the time - I just really like them and have gotten some great responses to a review I did of “Note to Self.”
If you ever want to chat about “conversations” in the comments please email me. It’s something I’ve been trying to get going on my own blog and have received a number of suggestions that seem to work.
May 10th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Showing up at my door would be stalkerish. Telling me you like my work is flattering. I would love to hear your thoughts on comment conversations. I’ll e-mail soon!