Seeing green

I'm experiencing the green-eyed monster right now. Wow. It's so rare for me to be jealous of anyone or anything. Especially professionally. But it's hitting me in waves and it's ugly. Someone I know and respect is succeeding in a way I want to be and it's really bothering me.

I refuse to get mired in it, so I'm putting on the brakes right here. I'm going to embrace what Julia Cameron advocates in her book, The Artist's Way. Jealousy can basically be used as a map. I like this line:

When you learn to harness its fierce energy on your own behalf, jealousy is part of the fuel toward a greener and more verdant future.

All this emotion means is that there is something I want to be doing with my talent that I'm not tapping into right now. What can I do to change that? As I set out my actions for the week, it's time to get hardcore about some things.

And what better encouragement can I get than seeing Marc Cherry win a Golden Globe for writing Desperate Housewives? He just accepted the award and talked about not being able to get even an interview for nearly three years. Now he's winning top honors for a hit TV show. I love that!

OK, Nancy, take a deep breath. Green be gone.