Two Sides of the Same Coin (Still no sleep, smh....)

Upon studying complex relationships in my English class last week, I had come to a realization. People are more complicated than we observe. No, I don't mean that in terms of the 80 distinct organs in human anatomy. And no, I don't mean that in terms of the near 100 trillion connections in the brain and the 100 million neurons that make them up either. 

Well maybe, but not really.

Human connections with others takes the cake for this topic. 

Now answer this simple question. What exactly do we learn in our psychology classes or lectures? (This may sound sudden and off-course. but trust me, it's not)

Many would think at first glance that it has something to do with emotions and feelings. And while this is absolutely correct, this answer needs to be narrowed down.

Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytical Theory states that there are three levels of consciousness and with those levels are personality sections: Id, Ego, and Superego.

The "Id" section operates at the unconscious level and is associated with basic wants in order to satisfy oneself. The "Superego" section operates within the preconscious level and is associated with the perfect image that one hopes to be. These two sections ultimately influence the middle-ground section "Ego," which is actually portrayed in one's personality while they are awake and active. 

Within the last 24 hours, I have read quite an astonishing article that relates to this concept, Sara Protasi's Love Your Frenemy. 

Protasi talks about how envy and love are two sides of the same coin, a light and darkness of a singular tunnel of a friendship.

You and me, we've all been there. Loved someone, whether it be a family member or a particular romantic interest while also being jealous of either the same or different people. In most scenarios, everyone will have at least something that you don't have or be better at something than you are, which is completely normal. Indeed, there is an inner greed within ourselves that want us to try to reach new heights and, obviously, improve. However, reaching this skill peak of the mountain can often be frustrating with the ascension journey slowly demotivating you and eventually throwing you off. This exact frustration causes you to look at others who reached the summit or are even higher than you on the mountain and feel nothing but immense wanting, leading to self-thoughts of "Why can't I be as high or even higher than them despite my tries?" More and more as you watch such people climb even higher than you can barely only manage to grasp, this feeling or wanting slowly turns into a negative sensation, which we call Jealousy or Envy. 

This feeling comes from "Ego," in which we try to attain something that will add to our overall character, upgrading it one step further into the final form that is perfection. Everyone's definition of perfection is different, which causes the disparity from envy and the overall anguish received as well to take effect in a higher or lower degree depending on the person and the situation.

As Protasi also mentions, even if we feel jealous towards someone, we are probably even ignorant to how that ideal person is feeling as well. Chances are, they are in the exact same boat that we are in, but just toward another person for another skill or wanting, or even back at us, but for a different reason.

In reality, if you are envious of someone, it also means that you love them. Now I don't mean in a romantic way of course, but love in terms of fascination and respect. Being jealous of that person means that in your mind, he or she is the ideal role model that you aspire to become. The key to becoming one step closer to your vision of perfection.

Being that envy is a negative sensation that will inevitably cause mental suffering, we should all learn to extract the "love" out of envy and discard the shell that is "hatred" remaining in the strainer. It is in this way that we will all be able to keep the motivation to climb higher while retaining a healthy mental sanity and overall well-being.

Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to attempt once again to fix my insomnia instead of being jealous of people with a normal circadian rhythm. 

Oh so how I wish.