6 Signs Of A Jealous Friend And How To Handle Him Or Her

In this post, I am going to share with you, some of the signs of a jealous friend, and how to deal with jealousy in friendship.

Jealousy is a natural emotion in every human being. Although everyone gets jealous, the difference is how you control yourself when those feelings creep in.

Jealousy is a green-eyed monster. It destroys everyone who allows it to control him or her.

When a friend expresses his or her feelings of fear, insecurity, and concern over a lack of possession or achievement, he or she is jealous.

Jealousy manifests in the form of anger, gossip, envy, hatred, opposition or competition, etc.

Below are the 6 ways to identify jealousy in a friend.

Read also: How to deal with jealousy in a relationship.

6 Signs Your Friend is Jealous of You

1. He or she opposes you

When a friend is jealous of you, the first thing he/she does is to oppose you in everything you do or say.

For instance, he or she will always disagree with every opinion or suggestion you raise when you are having a group discussion with other friends or colleagues.

A friend who is not envying you will not necessarily object to every of your opinion.

I have noticed this several times from some of my friends and discovered that it is a sign of jealousy.

Related: Signs your crush is jealous

2. They get mad at you

Some friends who display their feelings of jealousy tend to do that by developing unnecessary anger towards you.

Whenever you make a mistake or offend them, they seize the opportunity to take revenge on you. He/she is simply jealous of you. Maybe as a result of your achievement or possession.

Read also: Signs your friend doesn’t care about you.

3. They backbite you

When a friend starts saying ill things about you, he or she may be doing that out of jealousy. Jealousy breeds gossip.

When a friend is envious of you, they try their best to paint you blue-black (destroy your reputation).

Read also: 7 Signs someone doesn’t want to be your friend.

4. They compete with you

Another sign that shows a friend is envying you is if they often compete with you.

A friend who is happy with what you’ve accomplished does not necessarily compete with you just to beat you.

Jealousy makes a friend competitive even when they ought not to. A jealous friend will go the extra mile to achieve the same result as you.

5. They brag about their past achievements

If you notice that your friend always brags about his/her past achievements whenever you share your victory or success with them, it may be a sign of jealousy.

For instance, he or she may say something like”Why disturbing us with your stories? Or are you the only person that has gotten such a job (or whatever term they may use) before?

When I got mine (their own achievement or success), I didn’t make a noise. So, why disturbing us?.

It is a term usually expressed by jealous friends. They may not say it as I stated above. But, if they say anything similar to the above-mentioned, then, he or she is jealous of you.

6. They don’t support you

A jealous friend is always an enemy in disguise.

You may be thinking that they are by your side, not knowing that they’re secretly trying to bring you down.

When a friend is jealous of you, he or she will stop supporting you, rather, they will look for a way to pull you down. It’s another sign of jealousy in a friend.

How to deal with a Jealous Friend

“People do not express jealousy through a single emotion or a single behavior. They instead express jealousy through diverse emotions and behaviors, which makes it difficult to form a scientific definition of jealousy” says Wikipedia

Dealing with jealousy in a friendship isn’t so hard, but it can be challenging. Do the following when you notice that a friend is jealous of you.

1.Try and understand what makes your friend jealous of you

The first step to take in order to deal with a jealous friend is to know the cause of his/her jealousy.

Identify what makes him or her envious of your position or whatever.

Ask them indirectly to know why they are acting that way (jealousy).

They may or may not give you a definite answer. If they refuse to tell you, then take note of their comments. Consider when jealous comments are made. It will unveil the reasons behind their jealousy.

2. Evaluate what they’re trying to achieve

The next step is to figure out what your friend is trying to achieve by making those jealous comments. He/she may be saying that in order to make you feel bad about yourself or to manipulate you.

3.Talk to him or her

Maintaining good friendship work better when good communication skill is always applied.

Be open to your friend to know how you can support them. Encourage him or her by helping them build themselves. It will help them to stop being jealous of you.