I haven’t been feeling like myself lately. No, I’ve been feeling like my clone.

I am jealous of those who think more deeply, who write better, who draw better, who ski better, who look better, who live better, who love better than I.

I feel like I could be the best, but I’m not going to openly admit that. At least not to any of my clones.

I’d rather fail in originality than become a clone of another! I didn’t get here as a carbon copy of anyone yet I made a name as one of the most revered in the space!

I’m afraid I felt a straight pin of jealousy. Perfection does that to me.

You can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself.

As much as I want to make love to you, I’d rather make love to your clone.

It follows that the more people we take to be our equals and compare ourselves to, the more people there will be to envy.

One day, I realized with all these people I was jealous of, I couldn’t just choose little aspects of their life. I couldn’t say “I want his body”, “I want her money”, “I want his personality”. You have to be that person. Do you actually want to be that person, with all of their reactions, desires, their family, their happiness level, their outlook on life, their self-image? If you’re not willing to do a wholesale, 24/7, 100% swap with who that person is, then there is no point in being jealous

I am who I pretend to be, and right now I’m pretending to be my own clone.

Everybody has this iota of jealousy inside of them. So, if you say you don’t, then I doubt if you are a human being. I guess I am, but with time, I have learnt how to control it.

Make a list of five people you care about, but also feel competitive with. Come up with at least one reason that you’re envious of each one: something they’ve achieved, something they’re better at, something that’s gone well for them. Did that achievement actually take anything away from you? Now think about how it benefitted your friend. Visualize everything good that has come to them from this achievement. Would you want to take any of these things away if you could, even knowing that they would not come to you? If so, this envy is robbing you of joy. Envy is more destructive to you than whatever your friend has accomplished. Spend your energy transforming it.

We humans are naturally compelled to compare ourselves with one another. We are continually measuring people’s status, the levels of respect and attention they receive, and noticing any differences between what we have and what they have. For some of us, this need to compare serves as a spur to excel through our work. For others, it can turn into deep envy—feelings of inferiority and frustration that lead to covert attacks and sabotage. Nobody admits to acting out of envy. You must recognize the early warning signs—praise and bids for friendship that seem effusive and out of proportion; subtle digs at you under the guise of good-natured humor; apparent uneasiness with your success. It is most likely to crop up among friends or your peers in the same profession. Learn to deflect envy by drawing attention away from yourself. Develop your sense of self-worth from internal standards and not incessant comparisons.

If I were to come back in another life, I’d like to be reincarnated as my own clone.