I had an entire post planned out for this week. I wanted to talk about food and some of the choices I have been making with my diet right now and changes I want to make moving forward. I pretty much decided to do that at the beginning of last week, but then inspiration for something different struck me. Before I get into the point, however, I think a little back explanation is needed.

I think every single person has experienced envy in their life at some point. Even as small kids we usually would experience it from time to time in the form of your sibling getting a bigger ice cream sundae than you or your friend getting a new toy that you didn't. I would say it is probably safe to say the envy is programmed in us as humans. When you get older it becomes about bigger things though. Maybe you are single and envy someone else's relationship. Same goes for someone wanting children and someone has just announced they are expecting. I can say once you reach a certain age you start seeing these types of announcements everywhere especially with how prominent social media is.

When your life is falling into place I think it is a pretty normal reaction to want to share it with the world. I know I constantly am mentioning how much I love my job. I see engagement and/or pregnancy announcements on a fairly regular basis online. Maybe someone bought a new house and has shared a beautiful picture of their new home as well. I am sure a lot of the times people who have lives that aren't exactly as they pictured roll their eyes or make a rude comment about these kinds of posts, but the whole point I am working my way up to here is why let it bother you so much?

I say it all the time but I have grown and changed so much over the past few years. I am an incredibly positive person (most of the time, we all have bad days) and I do my best to trust in fate. A few years ago I was extremely underpaid, bitter about being single, frustrated because I let myself gain weight back, and overall I would say in some ways I really just hated myself and how my life was going. I overcame that with a lot of patience, effort, and time. Once I started thinking positive things in my life slowly started to go in the right direction and they still continue to align. I also put the work in. Sure I love my job now but it was a lot to learn at first. My first few weeks I was terrified I wouldn't get the hang of it and felt like I was in over my head. I put the work in and still do to make sure I can keep up with my work and keep loving it the way I do. Same with getting healthy as well. I definitely have days I would rather have something not as healthy for dinner and not go to the gym during the week but I put in the work for that as well. Staying positive isn't always an easy thing to do all the time either especially if you have the habit of reading the news a lot like me. Things are still in the path of aligning in my life, but they are certainly on the way there.

With all of that being said I recently was inspired for the topic for this post by friends that I met up with for the first time in a while. I am going to give Gina, Kristin, and Desiree a shameless shoutout here. You all inspired me to change the topic of my post today. The other day we all met up for dinner to finally catch up and it really was just beautiful to see where our lives have taken us. All in such different stages of our lives, but we've all grown so much through these years for the better and nothing makes me happier. Do I wish we could see each other more often? Of course but it is also great that its like no time has passed when we do as well. 

When you see friends, coworkers, family members, or even acquaintances on social media with such happy stages in their lives and their emotional growth etc. you should feel nothing but happiness for them. A bitter person would let envy come out and cause a lot of feelings of anger toward a person that is in a different stage of their life. It takes nothing to be happy for the people around you when they reach a milestone in their life. It takes nothing to be happy for a friend when they are doing something incredibly exciting and inspiring in their life. It also takes nothing to be inspired by their achievements as well. In the end what does bitterness and envy leave you with? Nothing of value that is for sure! 

Envy and positivity simply cannot exist in tandem. If you want to truly be a positive person you need to cheer others on instead of wanting what they have. Years ago when I saw a marriage, pregnancy, promotion etc. announcement on social media I probably would have let it annoy me. That was until I let myself truly believe that fate was doing its work. I will experience everything I am meant to at just the right time. Not allowing someone else's happiness bring you down simply because you do not have those things is a great feeling and I highly suggest you remove those shackles as well. Put your faith in fate as I always say and realize that you are just on your own timeline.