Hi, I'm Diane Groussell and I'm also known as Silver Dispedience. Welcome to the Silver Dispedience Podcast. Today I want to talk to you about envy, and I'm going to address my necklace at the end of this podcast. Back in my early 20s, in a conversation with a wise friend who's 20 years my senior, I started whining about the life I didn't have. When I finished, she patiently pointed out that envy and jealousy weren't my most attractive traits.
Then she said Diane, if everyone in the world put all their troubles in their own suitcase, and then they had the opportunity to throw their suitcase into the street to grab a different one. Once all those suitcases started popping open from the impact of being thrown into that street, we'd all run back as fast as we possibly could to grab our original problems back filled in that suitcase.
All these years later, I'm still not immune to envy, and I'm not sure I'd believe anyone who said they were. There will likely always be something we see that we want, that we imagine that we covet or dream about, but somebody else seems to have. In fact, social media will guarantee this. But when I find envy really creeping into my heart, I try to flip it and see it as an impetus to kick start a new plan of action.
You see, I look at it now as if if someone has something that I think I want, I should be celebrating. Seeing what another has means that whatever it is that I think I want, if I'm alive it might be possible. We both have the same 24 hours in a day, so maybe what they have that I want is attainable for me as well with a little
effort. So instead of wasting the time being envious, I try to determine what is the pathway I'll need to take to get it. But frankly, sometimes if I'm really honest with myself, I think about the effort that will be necessary to accomplish or achieve what I think and see another has accomplished and achieved. Sometimes the attraction fades because I realize while it might be nice, maybe it's not so important to me because I'm not prepared to invest the time and commitment to make that
possible. So honesty during moments of envy is very important. Steve Jobs had far less time on earth than many of us had to date, including me. He died younger than I am during his earthly visit. He made apple products must haves for many. I know I use a lot of them. He made gazillions in the process, for himself and for other people. Do I envy all that wealth? No, not at all. You know, money. Having money is better than no money. But I'm still alive and full of
possibilities. So are you. And he's not. Unhappiness comes from undervaluing what we have right now, this moment, while overvaluing what we think others have. And sometimes that's because we're comparing our insides to what we're seeing on their outsides, which, again, it's very easy to have happen with social media. But as Thomas Brown said, let age, not envy, draw wrinkles on
nice skin and cheeks. So let me talk about my necklace, because if you want to expand and think a little bit more about this topic of envy, I want to tell you very briefly. My favorite book on the topic is the necklace. It's actually a short story by Guille de Molpeson, and you can find it probably online or in a bookstore.
But it's called the Necklace and it's about two women and a necklace that's made of. Well, I'm not going to tell you what it's made of, but I highly recommend you read the book if you want to think a little bit more about envy and why. Maybe there's a reason. It's one of the seven sins. I'm Diane Grussell. I'm also known as Silver Disobedience, and I want to thank you for stopping in to listen to this podcast. Please subscribe.
You can also find me at Silver Disobedience dot Rocks my website which has inspirational content on a daily new every day. Thanks again. Bye bye. See you soon.