There’s a scene in Pride and Prejudice where Elizabeth is playing the pianoforte in Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s drawing room at Rosings. Mr. Darcy says he isn’t good at making small talk, and Lizzie says that she knows she could probably play the pianoforte better than she does, if only she practiced more. She owns the fact that she is not playing to her full potential. She does not tell us how much she envies some other young lady who is more accomplished on the instrument.
This is summed up well in a meme I saw on Twitter the other day. It was a quote from Tim Fargo: Don’t envy what people have, emulate what they did to have it.
I love this quote. It rang true for me because it is something that I finally began to learn in recent years. I picked up some bad habits in my youth, you know, being critical of others as they celebrate a success in their life, envying them because it wasn’t me… focussing on the wrong things, rather than finding joy in their success. But then I eliminated some negative influences from my life, and turned that around. It makes me a happier person.
Much as I’m a fantasy fan… no success comes by magic.