Green, The New Black?

Jealousy.

Probably the worst little monster that crawls around our insides and clogs our emotional pores.

We all know the famous saying “jealousy can drive a person mad”, or the one that goes “jealousy can make a person go to great lengths”.

…wait; don’t they say the same thing about love?

Doesn’t love drive us to crazy extents and makes us do stupid things?
That’s what I’ve always heard.
I have this theory about love and jealousy being linked very closely. Sometimes we think we’re in love, when really, we’re just in…jealousy.
I mean, we’ve all seen it.

There are lots of couples who stay together not because they love each other, but simply because the idea of their significant other being with someone else is too much to bear. Couples that make themselves believe they’re inseparable, when really they’re just incapable of being separated.

I hope I’m making sense here.

Let’s use a middle school reference. Let’s say, I don’t know, Brandon comes up to Colleen and asks her out. Now, she doesn’t like Brandon and never has. So without even skipping a beat, she refuses and walks away, not thinking much about it.
The next day, she sees he’s asked out Sally. Now, something stirs inside of her, and after watching them together flirting and whatnot, she realizes she really does like Brandon.
...Or does she?

See what I’m trying to say?
A lot of the time we don’t realize it, but we subconsciously “fall in love” out of pure jealousy. Just because we want what we cannot have, or something that others have.
I’m sure in that situation; Colleen would do anything to get Brandon back for herself. And that’s where that expression comes from. Because we are told that we do crazy things for love when in fact, most of the time it is out of jealousy.
We all watch the movies, where we see the woman rejecting the guy and then suddenly caring and going insane when she sees him with another woman. Then it ends with them falling in love and being together.
What it doesn’t show, is that same woman dumping him two weeks later when she sees another piece of eye candy she wants to chew on. Then the third movie where she returns to the guy when she finds out he’s moved on.

It’s the common story we have all heard and seen countless times.

We don’t like the feeling of getting something taken away from us. It’s just human nature. We like to have things and keep them to ourselves. And then once we have them, we want something else. It’s normal.
What isn’t normal is that we’re taught that we’re falling in love in this situation when we’re not; That we’re being told that it’s okay to do crazy things for love when your “loved one” is with someone else.

We can’t control jealousy. Hell, it’s the “herpes” of emotions.
The flare ups are uncontrollable and intolerable when they come, and sometimes it can get so bad, it requires a lot of time to get rid of.
But all emotions are tough, especially now at this time in our lives when they seem to control us.

…Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of the constant mood swings, crying attacks, and sudden chocolate cravings that come with this whole “adolescence” package deal. I mean, I can’t help that it was just left on my doorstep one morning with a post it attached that said “this is gonna suck”.

What’s the return policy on this thing?