When something exciting happens to a friend, you want to be excited for them. However, it can sometimes feel challenging to be happy for others.
You can care about someone and still have negative thoughts about yourself when they share the good news.
Let’s understand the problem a bit better, and go over some top tips on how to feel happy for someone else’s success.
Why Can’t I Be Happy For Others?
It’s easy to feel like you’re a bad person for not being happy for others’ success. But don’t worry – it’s a lot more common than you may think.
You’re not the only person who starts to think about their issues when someone shares something positive. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of comparison and jealousy!
When you hear about someone’s success, your mind often jumps to tell you that you aren’t doing as well in that area of your life.
It can be really hard to express happiness for your friend’s promotion when you’re dealing with your job stress. If your best friend shares that she’s pregnant, your first thought might be about your struggles with infertility.
Having these feelings is perfectly normal, and they don’t make you a selfish person. It just means that you need to work a little harder to step outside yourself and be happy for someone else.
Remember – struggling with this is not a true reflection of how you feel about your friend’s success! There are many ways you can be a better friend.
But struggling with jealousy and negative emotions is not the mark of a bad friend – it’s normal!
It’s also important to remember that you aren’t going to be happy all of the time. Negative emotions are a part of life, and you need to learn to live with them. A good first step to getting ahead of negative feelings might be reading up about happiness hacks.
Why It’s Important To Be Happy For Others
Learning how to be happy for others can be hard, but it is important. You want to be able to take part in the exciting moments in your friends’ lives.
This means that you need to celebrate the success of your loved ones. When you care about someone, you care about their wins, and it’s important to show that in your actions.
Celebrating milestones is important in healthy relationships! Being a good friend to someone means that their happiness should be your happiness. And it can be!
Another reason it is important to be happy for others is that it can help you to be happier overall.
Celebrating successful things that happen, even if they don’t happen to you, brings more positivity into your life.
Learning to find joy in others’ success is a great way to choose kindness each day. This can have a positive impact on your mental state, and help you become a better version of yourself.
Be Happy For Others: Top Tips
Now that we understand the importance of being happy for others, let’s look at some ways to implement this into your daily life.
Trying to be happy for others is a great goal, but it can require a lot of work. Luckily, there are many small things you can do to make the process successful.
Allow Yourself To Feel Negative Emotions
While it is important to be happy for others, that doesn’t mean that you can’t also feel other things. Being happy for a family member or friend doesn’t mean you have to put aside all of your other emotions.
Don’t feel guilty about how you’re feeling. Give yourself space to feel your emotions. You can be happy for others and also feel sad for yourself.
Human beings are complex! We’re capable of feeling many emotions at the same time, even conflicting ones. Your feelings about yourself don’t have to erase feelings of happiness for someone else.
This also means that you should take time by yourself to process how this situation makes you feel. Your feelings are important as well, and happiness for others shouldn’t mean pushing your difficult emotions aside.
Look At Issues In Your Own Life
Jealousy can be revealing. When we compare our own lives to other people’s, it says more about how we feel about ourselves than the actual situation.
If your friend’s success brings up a bad feeling, look at where that feeling is coming from. Are there things in your life that you could work on to boost your mood or spur personal development?
If you are having persistent issues with feeling sad and not being able to find joy in other people’s successes then you may need more serious intervention. In the meantime, consider making use of one of the best apps for happiness. These apps can help you find more joy in your day-to-day life.
Think About Your Role In their Success
If your friend’s success is making you feel down about yourself, take a step back and think about how you contributed to that success.
Maybe you helped them practice for an interview, or worked on a cover letter with them.
Even if you didn’t play a direct role in their success, your support as a friend still means a lot. Having you to talk to helped your friend get to where they are today.
A strong, encouraging relationship will help you both to succeed in the future!
Let Go Of Competition And Comparison
One of the major obstacles to being happy for others is competition. Maybe you want to achieve what they have achieved and feel jealous. Don’t worry, there are many people in your shoes!
Great practice in learning to be happy for others is to let go of competition and envy. This is not a good use of your mental energy.
Someone else’s success does not mean that you are not also succeeding. This negative mindset can stop you from being grateful for what you have.
You can change your thinking – let their success be helpful for you. They can become an inspiration that drives you to be a better version of yourself.
Engage In Self-Care To Be Genuinely Happy
Powerful affirmations of self-love are great to add to your daily routine. If you’re dealing with self-doubt or low self-esteem, saying positive things can be a real boost to your mental state.
You can focus your affirmations to be specific to your situation. These can be used to help challenge negative thoughts.
If you’re struggling to be happy for a friend who has just got a promotion, you can choose affirmations relating to how hard you are working, and the ways you are succeeding in your career.
Another important part of self-care is cultivating gratitude. Why not partake in a happy Thankful Thursday each week?
Final Thoughts
Luckily, there are many things you can do to help you find joy in others’ success. Reflect on your emotions and their roots. Try to shift to a more positive mindset. Taking stock of the things you are grateful for in your own life can put things into perspective!
Being happy for others is not always the easiest thing, but it’s still important to show support for your friends. This will contribute to secure, lasting relationships that are sure to benefit you both.
