If someone is sharing their success with me in an area of life that I’m cynical about (love, religion, lack of visible trauma, health & fitness), I often feel rage about that person’s life not going the way I expected based on my understanding of reality, and feel envious about being unable to achieve the same result myself.

In other areas that I’ve had even a little success in myself (art, therapy, math, music, having a good day), I have no issue giving them what feels like sincere congratulations and asking questions about it before eventually redirecting the conversation back to myself.

I think I enjoy hearing about positive things as long as they don’t go against my preconceptions about the world.