how does an envious person behave

You could classify them into either of the two: Whether they’re harmless or not, you should consider just ignoring them. Pay attention to this early warning sign. DISCLAIMER: This site does not provide or constitute professional advice. The ones that have a potential to be sabotaging should be addressed. An envious person thinks that other people are always in a better situation than them. And even if its your best friend, don't pay attention to he/she or their actions. Knowing that they belittle your successes and are now acting like they’re better than you can be quite frustrating. Having an envious person in your life may get annoying at times. Your misfortunes give envious people satisfaction. Read more…. Could you be the object of jealousy or envy from your business partners, colleagues, or even your friends? You've just made a huge sale, gotten a plum assignment, or won an industry award. In order to make themselves feel better, they will try to belittle you. Envious people want to have what you have, therefore may try to become just like you. This article has been viewed 175,905 times. Last Updated: October 8, 2020 Don’t let your misfortunes get you down, making mistakes, learning from them and becoming better is part of life. Envious people are dissatisfied with their self-image. Envious people love flaunting their successes, even if it’s not something to get excited about. Handle an envious 'friend' with extreme care. Remember that they feel inferior and remember that when they try to belittle you. If you know a person’s envious of you, they’ll most likely try their hardest to show off in front of you. That way, they couldn’t really do much about you. They might try to provoke you into competing with them, in that case, you should just back off and ignore them. We all love attention and admiration, but if you’re going to boast about your accomplishments, do it around people that will be happy for you. No matter what you achieve or how hard you worked to do so, envious people will always try to make it seem like it was a fluke, or that you didn’t work as hard as you did to achieve your success. On the other hand, you can just cut them off completely. They see you as someone who doesn’t deserve what they have and want to become better than you, therefore at the right opportunity, they might try to harm your success. Even when something great happens in an envious persons’ life, they don’t really get any satisfaction from it. ", https://metro.co.uk/2018/01/28/jealous-friends-are-worse-than-enemies-cutting-them-out-of-my-life-is-the-best-thing-i-ever-did-7241135/, https://camillestyles.com/wellness/how-to-deal-with-a-jealous-friend/, https://www.lifehack.org/643537/how-to-deal-with-haters-and-jealous-people, consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. You'll never know if you don't investigate. Just ignore them and be gracious if you see them. Knowing the behaviour patterns of envious people will help you identify these personalities. Here are some signs to watch for. Their hate will fuel the other toxic behaviours and will encourage them to try to sabotage you even more. If you're feeling angry, keep in mind that your non-response is likely to frustrate an envious person more than anything else you could do. The attendant was a young black girl. There is a lack of self-worth and often a feeling of inferiority. If you see them doing their own thing (not imitating you), encourage them to keep at it. Also goes on to plan your downfall, all within five to ten minutes, of seeing you for the first time. If you really think that someone hates you, for no good reason, then you might want to just show them how little they mean to you. Getting upset and trying to return to ‘favour’ will only make them feel better about themselves. It’s true that the colleague and the millionaire would share differing levels of success. They turn the smallest achievements into a big deal. If they have to push themselves to try and become better than you, then they can actually achieve something. Instead, you should praise them sincerely and try to be happy for their achievements. She took my money but refuses to turn the pump on. Try to focus on your own accomplishments and avoid getting into a "one-upmanship" game with them as they will try to brag whenever you are around. However, envy is when they like what you have (and show it by copying or worse yet, saying that they came up with it,etc) and want you to lack it (i.e they belittle your accomplishments or overact or exaggerate the quality in you that they desire). The more successful you become, the more insecure becomes the envious person. If you show them that you really don’t care, they’ll eventually stop trying. Think of it as a sudden break in a conversation. They’ll just continue envying you in silence. They feel inferior to other people, therefore envy them for what they are or what they have. You should remember that imitation is the highest form of flattery. Register to get answer. Being envied is a blessing and a curse. If someone takes pleasure of your misfortunes, you should really consider keeping this individual in your life. Based on this, put them into one of two boxes: If you’ve come to the conclusion that you’re dealing with an envious person, you should consider their impact on you. By being genuine, nice, kind and thoughtful you’re making it hard for them to resent you. Just think of the example of getting a promotion, because you’ve been sleeping with your boss. An envious person thinks that other people are always in a better situation than them. And if they switch the conversation over to their own accomplishments, be gracious about it. They’ll most likely be the first ones to compliment you and could even seem a little over-enthusiastic, as that might help them hide their envy. Depending on how clever they are, they might even be able to accomplish that while making themselves look better. James 3:15-16 15. If they can really see your point, the majority of them should just stop their behaviour, or at least make it less noticeable. I’m sure every single one of us has experienced this unpleasant emotion, whether you felt it in yourself or in another person. You tell your friend, business partner, or colleague your good news. This happened to me years ago when I won a contract to write a book for a business book series. Stay humble with your achievements and fortunes, and they will be less likely to envy you. Keep your calm, cool and collected. You want to point out their behaviour and express your honest opinion. Whatever plum job or deal you've gotten, your friend will find a reason why it's not so great. This too can be subtle, because most people like to talk about themselves and would likely rather tell you what they've been up to than listen to you talk about yourself. Correctly handling other people's jealousy is very tricky. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/0\/00\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/0\/00\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid277113-v4-728px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"

License: Creative Commons<\/a>
\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/div>"}, {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/7\/7b\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-2-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-2-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/7\/7b\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-2-Version-2.jpg\/aid277113-v4-728px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-2-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"

License: Creative Commons<\/a>
\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/div>"}, {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/a\/a9\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-3-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-3-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/a\/a9\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-3-Version-2.jpg\/aid277113-v4-728px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-3-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"

License: Creative Commons<\/a>
\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/div>"}, {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/0\/09\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-4-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-4-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/0\/09\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-4-Version-2.jpg\/aid277113-v4-728px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-4-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"

License: Creative Commons<\/a>
\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/div>"}, {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/4\/48\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-5-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-5-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/4\/48\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-5-Version-2.jpg\/aid277113-v4-728px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-5-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"

License: Creative Commons<\/a>
\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/div>"}, {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/9\/99\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-6-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-6-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/9\/99\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-6-Version-2.jpg\/aid277113-v4-728px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-6-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"

License: Creative Commons<\/a>
\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/div>"}, {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/d\/df\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-7-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-7-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/d\/df\/Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-7-Version-2.jpg\/aid277113-v4-728px-Deal-With-an-Envious-Friend-Step-7-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"