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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Hampton U chapter.

Family is loving, supportive, kind and more but it is not always like that. Sometimes the people in your family are the most toxic people to be around. Toxicity sounds really bad, right? So there is no way that is a good thing, especially coming from people in your life like your family. There might be someone in your family that you feel puts you down or is never happy for you or doesn’t like you for whatever reason. A lot of people experience this. The saying you can’t pick your family is true, but you can pick the people you keep around you or maybe certain family members. People can slightly hide their jealousy or envy in ways you may not notice. Here are some signs that someone may be envious: 

 

Accomplishments that you get, big or small doesn’t please or impress them. No matter what you do it does not satisfy them and they are not happy for you. For example, you have the opportunity to go to college and they don’t. 

 

They will downplay your accomplishments. They’ll say something negative about what you do. Like it wasn’t anything of importance or value. 

 

They will play tit-for-tat and try to “one-up” you. Your accomplishments won’t match up to theirs.  You won’t be as great as them or what you do is not enough. They might say something like “oh yeah, but what I did was more difficult” or “you didn’t do this” 

 

They talk behind your back. They smile in your face, tell you that they are happy for you and talk negatively about you behind your back. 

 

Look happy when you make a mistake. They would rather see you fail than be successful.

 

There are ways to deal with jealous family members. Some things that you can do is set boundaries with those family members. Another idea could be to avoid or cut them out of your life entirely. This can be hard though but it could be necessary for your sanity and happiness. Just because you are related by blood to people does not mean you have any obligation to them. The only person you have an obligation to is yourself. Don’t carry the toxicity and negativity of others that keep you from doing the things you want to do

 

Hi!, My name is Arielle and I am a second-year pre-nursing major at Hampton University from Columbia, South Carolina.