Travel envy!

Travel Envy is jealous of someone’s travel in which you want to travel to the place with a desire. It is a feeling of jealousy when you see someone’s photo of your friends who didn’t take you on a dream vacation, domestically or internationally. Then you started to compare others and then started “worthless.” Finally, you began to feel bad about yourself and felt sorry and insincere to someone…

…and your mental health began to suffer.

Being jealous and envious can hurt your friends, families, relationships, life, and health. It stresses your entire body when you feel jealousy. In addition, it deteriorates your overall health, including your brain, heart, digestive system, and liver. As a result, you age quickly, looking much older than you think. And soon, you aren’t that healthy and energetic anymore…

…and jealousy and envy can kill your health and wellness.

I-Powers Travel

So, your body isn’t designed to handle “too much stress.” So, there must be a way to cope with jealousy, e.g., stress management.

When I was in school, I looked at M’s Japan trip. First, I felt jealous that she went on a journey, so I learned not to “feel bad” about myself. Then, instead of feeling jealous, I planned a solo trip in the winter by saving my money and was overcome by her travel. Finally, I learned how to cope with her pictures on social media. 

She suggested I “save some money so you can travel there in the future.”

Instead, I turned from “Travel Envy to Inspiration – Plan my next adventure,” I planned a $950 4-day Tokyo Trip when I was studying hard and rewarded myself with a solo trip. Everything worked out very well. Overall, I worked hard on the job too. 

Other good ways to overcome “travel envy” are to: 

• Limit social media, e.g., Instagram, Facebook, etc.
• Talk to someone
• Meditate
• Take a break from distractions
• Don’t compare others
• Set your own realistic goals
• Motivate yourself
• Go out and explore like I did, NYC, SFO, and yes, solo travel abroad
• Have fun and enjoy yourself

After finishing my arduous finals on April 24, 2016, I rewarded myself by traveling to Ardmore – Maido!, which made my day.

8 months later, after my Hong Kong trip, I took a couple of days off in Japan and learned to greet people, cultures, etiquette, manners, etc. So it was a dream come true when my parents told me to “be careful when traveling abroad solo – we care about safety.”

Have you ever seen someone’s photo of their travel and want to travel to the same place desirably? Of so you are not alone. Some sayings from someone complained all about the photos they posted on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. 

You say from social media or photos such as:

• “What? Is he kidding me?”
• “That’s not fair…”
• “Why did he post of [the place you wanted to go]?”
• “She went to Hong Kong for a week. So why didn’t I travel? I want to travel there.”
• “How does he travel all the time?”
• “Where does she get the funds to stay that long?”
• “I bet they don’t have desk jobs that keep them glued to a computer 24/7.”
• “How come I haven’t done that? Feels like I’ve been saving up forever.”
• “Another travel post?! Come on!”
• “I don’t get paid enough to do that.”
• “How many vacation leaves does he have in a year?!” 
• “It’s not fair… how come he travels to my favorite place?”

And the list goes on and on. Do these sound familiar?

Yes!!! And so, it is the time to move on. Take a girl who felt jealous of my 2018 travel.

Example scenario:

A girl named S hasn’t been on a plane trip or to the west coast. But she wanted to travel to California for 3 days, so she was obsessed with traveling.

Then she was on Facebook and…

As she looked at my trip to California and Las Vegas photos, she quickly felt nerve-wracking, and then she said, “What? Why? I have no chance to go out and visit the place… That is not fair.”

Stress comes inside S’ body and mind.

Whining and feeling abandoned, she then started to compare herself and get angrier…

…and she got irritable every time for “small mistakes” and so forth.

Finally, she had difficulty focusing on her daily tasks and motivating herself.

How do travel jealousy and envy affect thinking?

I believe jealousy is normal but can manage and limit the exposure that triggers “negative thinking” or “distractions.” Like S, she sometimes can’t overcome her thinking of “travel.” Also, she can’t enjoy her life because she was “distracted” by the picture I posted. It was a development of “addiction” and may incorporate additional help and counseling.

Without changing her thinking, she can’t enjoy their life, such as her hobbies, work, and social life. Instead, she will be in social isolation and abandonment and may develop severe mental problems. She doesn’t want it to happen to her in the future.

What triggers the feelings?

Once she starred at the photo of my California trip back in 2018, she started to feel “abandoned.” As a result, she will say things like…

“I can’t stand these photos of her Cali Trip…” She whined while repeatedly looking at them. She felt like there was “no way out to escape.” 

Instead of feeling bad about herself, she could have limited time spent on social media and focus on mindfulness. Or she can incorporate positive self-talk such as, “I am a brave person who can do things that I enjoy” or “I have different, unique personality traits and values. I have a character too.”

Everyone is different, so there is no reason to compare others. Everyone has a unique character, personality, traits, and values to represent each person. 

Another way to cope with the “envy” is to talk with her parents or someone you trust. They understand feelings and learn from them.

What are ways to change its thinking?

Instead of feeling “jealousy,” why don’t you start changing how you cope, such as meditation, talking to someone about feelings, and taking a quick walk? It took time to overcome jealousy of her “travel envy” to become a “mentally stable person.”

So somewhat feeling jealous of someone’s photos of their trip, I plan my own Singapore Trip solo for 2023 – no excuses for postponing or waiting for the long-haul pandemic-related stress. And I anticipated traveling there for a week-long vacation after being confident with the “horrendous jealousy.”

And soon, I will become a “confident person” without distractions.