Just A Small Town Girl…

I get it, sometimes when you’re not in the best place mentally, it can be a hard pill to swallow hearing someone else’s good news.
“Oh you got engaged? Wow I’m so happy for you” – {she says in the most disinterested, monotone voice ever heard.}

When you’re down in the dumps, it’s actually easier to be there for a friend who’s also going through a rough patch, because of course, misery loves company.

As much as you may wish to be the bigger person because you know it’s the right thing to do, you physically cannot muster the strength to slap a smile on your face and wish said person a genuine congratulations.

Like I said, I get it, we’ve all been there. The easiest option is to send a half-hearted message of congrats, then bury your head in the sand, pretend nothing happened and go about your day.

It’s that feeling of thinking that everyone around you is progressing in life and you’re just stuck in the same spot you’ve always been in. Everyone else has it so easy, lives filled with sunshine and rainbows while you’re just left in the corner with a solitary rain cloud thundering above your head and nobody cares.

Now like I said, burying your head in the sand may seem like the easiest option in the short term, but in the long term it can prove to be quite harmful to your relationship.

By letting your jealousy/feelings of inadequacy/self pity/anxiety hold you back from partaking in said person’s happiness, you risk losing this person from your life…forever. 

Now that’s fine if they weren’t a close one anyway. Then all that’s left to say is sayonara, see ya sucker! But if they were a key person in your life right up until they decided to rain on your parade with their happiness, then tomorrow when you finally have some good news of your own to share and said person is nowhere to be found, can you really throw a temper tantrum and call them every name under the sun? Nope. They’ll be completely justified in not caring, because you reap what you sow buddy. 

So I ask you, is that really the route you want to go down?

As much as it may go against every fibre of your being, cheering said person on, even if it’s only surface level at first, is the only way to keep them in your life for the long-haul. It can also help you flip your own mental script of seeing their win as something to inspire you – not as something to send you into a comparison/depression spiral! Plus it’s never a bad thing to surround yourself with positive energy, vibes are contagious you know! And life is all about good karma.

As much as we like to tell ourselves that everyone in the world always gets what they want, except poor us, we know deep down that’s not true. Everyone is on their own journey full of their own unique struggles that we’re not even aware of half of the time!

So why not cut them some slack and crack a smile, it’s a momentous time in their life dude, just be there for them – trust me, you won’t regret it.