Jealousy is a painful emotion that we have all experienced. It’s an emotion that is often not desired, but still manages to climb its way up.
For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that both me and my partner love to do acroyoga. If not checked, jealousy could easily consume and take over our relationship. I’ve had friends ask me in the past if seeing friends or srangers acro with my partner makes me jealous, and the answer has always been “no”. We love acroyoga, and we see touching and giving affection to others as a positive thing. In this situation, if jealousy were to consume us, we would be missing out on a lot of friendships and love from our acro community. So does that mean jealousy is a bad thing?
Not necessarily. As much as I dislike jealousy, being jealous is a primal instinct when we feel threatened. According to psychology today, jealousy “is a signal, a wake-up call, that a valued relationship is in danger and steps need to be taken to regain the affection of one's mate or friend. In this regard, jealousy is a necessary emotion because it preserves social bonds. It motivates people to engage in behaviors that maintain an important relationship.”
Based on my personal experience with jealousy, I would conclude that jealousy could be a good, bad or evil emotion depending on the situation. I do believe that when jealousy comes from internal insecurities, it can lead to one partner becoming possessive, obsessive, and controlling in a relationship, which is not healthy. On the other hand, if you are feeling jealous it is important to not just discard or ignore the feeling. Jealousy could also be a wake up call to help preserve social bonds. It can even help you define boundaries that can keep your relationship healthy and safe.
So in a relationship, how do you deal with jealousy? I think the most important foundation to any relationship is to build trust and confidence in each other. When there are situation that arises, it is important to talk to you partner on why you feel the way you do.
What are your thoughts about jealousy? Do you agree, disagree and why?
Karen