Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to understand your jealousy. When you know
Speaker 1: why certain things get to you, you can analyze your
Speaker 1: life with this in mind and take something useful from
Speaker 1: that jealousy that can actually improve your life. I am
Speaker 1: a pretty contented person. I enjoy my work, I have
Speaker 1: a large and healthy family, but I am not immune
Speaker 1: to jealousy when I look at certain posts on social media.
Speaker 1: Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about
Speaker 1: which posts those are and why they feel like a
Speaker 1: kick in the stomach while others just don't bother me
Speaker 1: at all. So what gets me well tales of adults
Speaker 1: only socializing or people getting to relax in general, pictures
Speaker 1: of big families all in matching outfits, smiling with mom
Speaker 1: looking completely pulled together, or where people are talking about
Speaker 1: some sort of family activity where everyone was happy and
Speaker 1: no one was fighting. I also get jealous of people's
Speaker 1: writing retreats and when the whole family seems focused on
Speaker 1: letting them focus. Now, believe me, I know that much
Speaker 1: of social media is fake. That put together mom has
Speaker 1: a job, of looking great while selling products through her posts.
Speaker 1: She has someone doing her hair and makeup and then
Speaker 1: taking lots of photos to get the right one. This
Speaker 1: is not your average mom putting her iPhone on a
Speaker 1: tripod and snaping some shots. This is a commercial enterprise,
Speaker 1: and it's being treated as such. The same thing goes
Speaker 1: for photos of fun family activities. They're probably paid for
Speaker 1: by whatever resort or hotel or amusement park is sponsoring
Speaker 1: the post and requiring the write up of happiness. But
Speaker 1: even so, I find that I don't care about people's
Speaker 1: fancy cars or fancy houses. Those posts don't bother me,
Speaker 1: even if they are just as fake and just as sponsored.
Speaker 1: So I have analyzed my jealousy and realized a certain thing.
Speaker 1: With a toddler and a job, I feel like I
Speaker 1: am not getting nearly enough time to relax. It also
Speaker 1: turns out that I don't feel like putting a lot
Speaker 1: of effort into my appearance see the whole job and
Speaker 1: toddler thing, and that has predictable results. With the logistics
Speaker 1: of five kids and a home renovation going on, I
Speaker 1: am probably not getting as much uninterrupted writing time as
Speaker 1: I want either. The good news, though, is that when
Speaker 1: we identify pain points, we can do something about them.
Speaker 1: I have arranged for a little bit of childcare for
Speaker 1: my toddler on some weekends. I've drawn up a different
Speaker 1: during the week's schedule where I am driving less so
Speaker 1: I have more time for writing. And well, I don't
Speaker 1: exactly care enough to have a stylist and photographer follow
Speaker 1: me around, but if I decided that was a priority,
Speaker 1: I suppose I could try it out. In any case,
Speaker 1: I could probably take a few minutes to do my
Speaker 1: hair more days than I do. Maybe you have certain
Speaker 1: pain points too, Maybe in your case it's something more substantial,
Speaker 1: like other people having grandkids and that doesn't look like
Speaker 1: it's in the cards for you. Or maybe it's just
Speaker 1: more humdrum. How are people's playrooms that organized? How do
Speaker 1: they only have color coordinated wooden toys? But when you
Speaker 1: figure out exactly what it is that gets you riled up,
Speaker 1: you can address these issues. Well, I mean, you can't
Speaker 1: suddenly conjure up grandchildren. But if you decide that you
Speaker 1: want small people in your life, you could volunteer to
Speaker 1: teach Sunday school, or work in an after school program,
Speaker 1: or help out your neighbors who have young children. If
Speaker 1: you crave an organized and color coordinated space, maybe you
Speaker 1: can designate some part of your house as your sanctuary.
Speaker 1: The kids playroom is probably asking a bit much. I
Speaker 1: suspect those folks on social media have two play rooms,
Speaker 1: one with the beautiful coordinated wooden toys and one with
Speaker 1: the explosion of plastic pieces that the kids at really
Speaker 1: play in. I'm not saying that thinking about this will
Speaker 1: make the jealousy go away, but it is easy to
Speaker 1: let jealousy eat at you. Using it to make positive
Speaker 1: changes in your life that make you happier is far
Speaker 1: more productive, and I am definitely a fan of being
Speaker 1: productive when we can. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b the number four than breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. I look forward to Staying in Touch
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from i heart Radio, visit the i heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.