Clapping loud for your friend’s win is how you find out if you actually love them.

Affection is easy while you are level and gets tested the moment someone moves ahead. The clapping is not really for them; it measures whether your care survives them having something you wanted. Most people find a small delay in there, half a second of something sour, and finding it does not make you a bad friend. Ignoring it does.

When someone close to you wins, say the enthusiastic thing first and inspect the feeling afterwards. Be specific about what they did, since vague praise is what reluctance sounds like. The gap usually closes once you act past it.