Jealousy usually isn’t about the other person. It’s about not believing you’re enough to stay.

Jealousy points inward far more often than it admits. The story it tells is about a rival, but the engine underneath is a fear that you are replaceable, that attention given elsewhere means there was never enough for you. That fear was there before this person arrived. It borrows whoever is nearby in order to explain itself.

When the feeling turns up, ask what it is predicting rather than who it is accusing. Say the fear plainly to the person instead of turning it into a charge against them. Being honest about insecurity usually costs less than acting it out.