Before you envy someone’s life, make sure you’d take the whole package, not just the photos.

Envy works by editing. You see the result and not the trade: the hours, the thing they gave up, the parts of their week nobody photographs. Almost nobody would swap entire lives if the whole contents were listed, and yet from outside it looks like a straightforward upgrade. What you want is usually one piece of it rather than the life itself.

When you catch the feeling, name the specific thing you actually want. Then ask what it seems to have cost them and whether you would pay it. Often the answer points you at something smaller and completely available to you.