7 Ways to deal with jealousy

How do you deal with jealousy?

You see them smiling at someone and you think that there’s something going on between the two of them and that your relationship is in danger. Even if they tell you, that the respective person is a newly found acquaintance, the heightening jealousy keeps you from believing them. They need to keep reassuring you of your importance to them. But they’d only put up with it for so long before concluding that you don’t trust them. This is what jealousy does to a relationship. It ruins one of the most important things required for a relationship; trust.

Even though jealousy comes naturally, it doesn’t harm you or your relationship as long as you keep it in check.

1. Reassure your partner

If they’re jealous even when you see no reason for it, reassure them. Try to find out why exactly do they feel so, and then try to fix it. Don’t take it as a sign of lack of trust; instead think of it as their means of expressing the fear of losing you. Give them the attention they need and help them get over the jealousy. Don’t be offended by it, it’d only complicate things even further.

2. Think from their perspective

Their being friendly with someone makes you jealous? Maybe next time you feel so, you should put yourself in their shoes and try and understand why they’re acting a certain way. You might come to the conclusion that when put in a similar situation, you’d be doing the exact same thing. This will help you deal with the jealousy before it becomes any worse, and not only that you’ll know how to fight it off every single time. Remember that your partner isn’t always looking for a way out of the relationship when they’re talking to or meeting someone. Learn to trust them.

3. Reassure yourself

Have you been treating your partner wrong? Are you not invested in your relationship? Are you not in love with them anymore? Have they shown any decline of interest in you? If you have no as answer to all of these questions, then you probably have nothing to worry about! Stop feeling threatened by other people. If they wanted to be with someone else, they would be. But they want to be with you, don’t make them prove their feelings for you all the time. You’re worthy of loyalty, and unless you believe that, you’ll never be able to trust them completely.

4. It’s better to talk it out than to act out

Communication plays a crucial role in all sorts of relationship issues. If the other person does not know of the problem, how can you expect them to fix it in any sort of way? Be it anything, they deserve to know (even at the risk of sounding crazy). If you keep it to yourself, you’re allowing it to build up within you. And what follows is this huge blast of impulsive actions which harm everyone involved. So save yourself from that nightmare and be upfront with them if there’s someone you’re concerned about.

5. Stop comparing yourself to the potential threat

There’s always going to be someone better than you out there. That doesn’t mean you should have to live in the constant fear of losing your partner to them. You may think that someone is better than you, while your partner may not even be comparing the two of you. There is nothing missing in you, you’re a complete person. And you deserve to be loved. If you fail to see that in yourself, don’t expect anyone else to see it in you either.

6. Live in reality rather than imagination

Fueled by negative emotions and thoughts, we tend to believe the worst and expect the worst as well. You might think that someone is after your partner, while they could just be acting like friends. Take things as they are. Stop making things up. You’re worrying yourself over nothing. And if you start acting out on it, you’re making things hard for them as well. They shouldn’t have to reassure you of your importance to them, ALL THE TIME.

7. Apologize

If you have been neglecting your partner for some reason, apologize to them. Tell them what has been keeping you occupied. And make sure you mean your apology. Make it up to them. Ignorance tends to bring up all sorts of negative thoughts in a person, and in a relationship, they’re most often fixating around the idea of someone else in the picture. Do your part in keeping any such emotions from surfacing.

Jealousy can actually be healthy in a relationship as it reminds you of what your partner means to you. But you shouldn’t go around making them jealous intentionally, so that they’d realize your value. What you might be doing is, making them feel not good enough for you. There’s no issue that cannot be resolved, given that it is dealt with in due time. And as always, communication is the key!

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