5 Ways to Deal With a Jealous Friend
Jealousy isn’t just the purview of lovers. It is a feeling that can creep in the most unconditional of relationships as well, in a friendship. Of course, friendship isn’t an exclusive social contract like a romantic relationship, but since it involves the hopelessly emotional human beings, you may suddenly find yourself dealing with a jealous friend. Here a few tips on how to deal with a jealous friend.
1. Recognize the symptoms
The first step to solving a problem is identifying it. Often it is not as simple as it sounds. In the real world, people don’t normally come and discuss their feelings in plain terms. Chances are, you are going to see multiple tantrums, mood swings and jeers before you understand that your friend may be giving you a hard time because he/she is jealous. Therefore the first step is to recognize a change of behavior in your friend and understand if it is driven by other factors such as personal stress, depression or out of jealousy. It is important you recognize the problem early, so that you can do something about it.
2. Analyze your behavior
Our usual tendency is to find fault with everything else other than ourselves while analyzing a troublesome situation. However, if you have a friend who is clearly showing signs of discontent, you need to ask yourself, could it actually be your fault? It might be possible that you have made some new friends and you are suddenly spending a lot of time with them. You are well within your rights to do so, as you keep meeting new people and making friends. It could also be that work is keeping you busy. However, it may not go down so well with someone who has been your friend for a while. If the jealousy stems from genuine reasons, acknowledge it.
3. Do not blame your friend
Do not blame your friend of being oversensitive and over reacting, because that will only lead to your friend getting defensive and leading to an altercation between the two of you which will solve nothing. Even if you feel that your friend’s behavior is unjustified, you need to be patient and understanding and keep your cool.
