As a person, I have been jealous so many times and I'm pretty sure everyone that will come across this post have been jealous at a point or the other in their life and the common form of jealous occur predominantly in romantic relationship. Even though it can also occur in business relationship, academic relationship, religious relationship, among friends, neighbours and family.
Photo by The Frances Locke from Pixabay
Jealousy is handled differently by different people and it is that thin line that differentiates healthy jealousy from unhealthy jealousy. Most times we hold the feelings of jealousy inside of us until it dies or fades away and in some other cases we express it directly or indirectly. Nonetheless, it is important to express your jealousy in a way that it won't cause any damage that is beyond repair with whosoever may be involved.
Let's take a moment to briefly address some types of jealousy which may not be as common or predominant like the ones in romantic relationships. Jealousy exists in the academic space between students and students, lecturers or teachers vs their colleagues. There are students who are jealous of their fellow students because they are in a battle of who will emerge as the best overall student in a particular course or subject. Well, these type of jealousy may be healthy and unhealthy at the same time depending on how it is handled by both parties involved.
Photo by Vocablitz from Pixabay
I was once involved in a similar type of jealousy with a fellow student in the Secondary school back in those days. We were both in Arts Class and we both contended for the best student in Commerce throughout our Senior Secondary Class. There are academic sessions when she would lead me with just a couple of marks and I will plan to relatilate the next session. This was a driving force for me to keep getting better in that particular subject.
In some other cases, jealousy exists between two businesses that offer the same kind of service especially when they are in close proximity or even otherwise. For instance, in a neighbourhood where two women engage in the same kind of business such as selling food items, there will be jealousy when one makes sales than the other. This kind of jealousy is also seen in corporate business that have branches all around. Like I opined earlier it may be healthy or unhealthy. The healthy part of it will make the company that isn't making good sales improve on their strategies by learning what their counterpart are doing correctly.
Photo by Negar Nikkhah from Unsplash
As humans we are always on our toes to protect the people we love so as to prevent a possible case of cheating. Whether or not you have caught your partner in the act of cheating or it is just a suspicion, it is pretty normal to be jealous. Jealousy is usually perceived as bad but the truth is that it is important in relationships. It is a sign that the jealous person cares about you and wouldn't want to lose you. This can make your relationship more stable and last. Jealousy should enhance the bond in relationship and not cause harm through abusive actions.
It will be evident that your partner or spouse care less about you when they catch you flirting or cheating. Acting like there is no problem would make you know that you are in the relationship all by yourself.