Life is not a zero-sum game

Envy is an amazing thing. I never envy the British Queen, who has inherited this massive fortune and privilege without having worked for it for even a day. Yet, if our classmates get ahead and do really well in life, we feel a tinge of envy.

And the fact remains that if you or I ever need help, the British Queen is unlikely to chip in, but our classmates might.

We are all better off if people we know do well in life. But when they are successful or have a stroke of luck, our mind goes – “Why not me? Why them?”

We are quite ok when strangers get lucky because we don’t put them in our frame of reference – we don’t compare ourselves with them.

We can’t control what we feel, but we certainly control how we react to those feelings. So anytime we feel envy towards anyone, let us remind ourselves that their luck is our luck.

We are all better off together. Life is absolutely not a zero-sum game.

On that note, I wish you well. Go ahead, achieve all your goals, and when possible, lift the people around you who were not as lucky.

– Rajan
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