This post isn’t brought on by anything going on right now in my life. It’s just an observation. If you look around you’ll see a lot of people excited when someone else fails.
The thing is when you’re on top of the world you will have plenty of company cheering you on enthusiastically. You’ll not lack supporters, but you’ll also curiously have an unusually large number skulking around in the shadows in anticipation. They whisper amongst one another, often times creating stories of how they imagine you ended up where you are, and even the ugly secrets they are sure must exist in your closet.
This crowd of ever-present naysayers keep an eye on you with one desire in mind. They are waiting for you to fall.
Unhappy people don’t have much that makes them crack even the tiniest of smiles, beyond a fake one, but there is one thing that lifts their murky spirits. The failure of another.
Miserable people want everyone to feel their pain, and their envy of true happiness knows no bounds. They cannot fathom not being angry, disillusioned, or jealous of the very people who could care less what they think. Their only motivation is the hope that content ones will crash and burn in a major way.
Misery loves company. Or as is more commonly phrased today, haters gonna hate.
It’s even worse if you have been an unhappy person, but then discover contentment in life. You discover change, personal growth, and true joy. You’ll find yourself advancing in life, seeking truth, showing love and kindness, and being really, really happy. But the people you may have left behind will watch through narrowed eyes and gritted teeth. And they will say things like, “he sure forgot where he came from,” or “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Maybe they’ll even say, “I guess she thinks her s%&t doesn’t stink anymore!”
They will watch with baited breath for you to fall. They will await your unhappiness. Until then they’ll talk about you behind your back, about how perfect you think you are.
The crazy thing is that the perfection they speak of is only imagined in their eyes. No one is truly perfect. No one. And while you can be supremely happy in life this doesn’t shield you from tragedy or mistakes. Inevitably even the most apparently perfect person in the world will eventually mess up or suffer something terrible.
And there will be the unhappy crowd waiting to cheer. For a short while they actually find happiness in someone else’s pain, as if it somehow makes them feel like their life isn’t as awful after all. But sadly in a short time their miserable existence returns to normal.
The unhappy people will still be unhappy even after their celebration of the failure of another. And interestly enough the happy people will remain happy. Sure they’ll be broken, but true joy remains despite struggle. So that misery that loves company so much just ends up being alone.
Your enemy will always be eager for your destruction, and if you fall they will be the crowd that arrives, not to help you, but to stand around sucking up all the air.
No worries. When you get back up, because you will, you’ll regain your contentment with life. But they will remain the same too.
The thing is no one is perfect, and even the happiest person experiences sorrow. But true joy and contentment are never found in celebrating the misery of another. You can only be happy with your life, and not waste time waiting for someone else to fail.