What are the signs of envy?

Envy is not to be mistaken with jelousy. Competitiveness is actually a healthy character trait and I don’t know if one can classify this as envy. Because in today’s world it’s just necessary at work and even at school to be competitive. You strife to do your best. In a job a boss wants his workers to be competitive. It really only becomes a problem and makes for an awkward work atmosphere if the competitiveness becomes so high that colleagues are not prepared to help each other when one is behind schedule or one has completed his or her tasks and is not willing to go and ask who needs some help…

Emulating a person is usually done because one envies a person but it’s also a compliment to the person whom one copies even if it may be annoying but they would not try to copy the style or the ways of someone they did not secretly just envy but also admire.

Mocking someone is just rude and it can be a sign of envy.

To envy someone can be about material things…because someone doesn’t have what the other got.

I agree that it becomes ridiculous if especially adults try to compete about who has the fastes car, the biggest house, the largest garden… that is silly behaviour and to me it is a sign that people who are envious have a low self esteem. Otherwise they would just try to do their own thing and give it their ”All” and then they can be much prouder if they achieve what they want instead of wasting their energy to envy their friends or colleagues…

Most envy is about someone elses material possessions, about looks, about success of the other person.

They should try to make their own lives better instead of envying others and it can lead to a lot of harm sometimes. Such as especially with young girls and women who see a superstar or a model and they envy her body and because they believe that to be skinny is fashionable they become anorexic or bulimic just to follow the trend the media sets. That’s very dangerous.

Jealousy is also due to low self esteem but it’s not the same as envy.

Signs Of Envy

Any kind of envy is linked to low confidence and low self-esteem; a feeling that others are much better; that you can never have what they have; that they are more beautiful, popular etc. There is nothing wrong with emulating someone or trying to be like them in a positive way. We are all socialised into the world by emulating our parents, doing what they teach us and copying things we learn, either directly or indirectly, from them.

Real envy is when those feelings are accompanied by resentment against the other person, or anger against what they have which we would like as well, that we believe we deserve too but are not getting. Hence why you might ‘mock’ someone to feel superior. Your envy makes you feel that you have to put them down, and belittle their achievement or possessions, instead of celebrating with them or being happy for them. But soon enough that will keep people away from you as they would find it hard to respect your negative reaction.

You need to start working on your own confidence and esteem, to learn that anything is possible for you too if you believe in yourself and want it badly enough. That you are as good as anyone else and can reach the skies if you wish. Learning to like yourself more and to build your self belief would gradually get rid of the need to feel envious or superior.

Sneak dissing, stealing from you, lying on you for no reason at all (to get a reaction out of you), trying to pick a fight with you for no reason, bad mouthing about you to others behind your back, trying to start as much conflict with & divide you and others as much as possible, name calling you, mean full of green envy nasty looks, keep staring at you.