Jealousy can ruin the best of friendships

My closest friend has steadily climbed the success ladder. He now just moves his money around. His lavish lifestyle includes cheating on his wife. I don’t want to be like him but I marvel at all the high-end “toys” he buys.

My wife of 14 years and I live on a far different level, doing okay. We both work, have a nice family home and two great kids, 10 and 12.

But my wife gets very uncomfortable whenever I go for a drink or dinner with him. She believes that I’ve been faithful but feels that my friend’s a bad influence.

I have a tendency to sometimes feel down because I can’t see that we’re ever going to rise another level to provide our kids and ourselves with more ease.

If either of us gets sick and/or have to stop working, it’ll make a huge dent in what we can do regarding the kids’ future education or family holidays.

This attitude makes my wife feel I should stop seeing my friend. She says that no matter what laughs/good times we have together, I come home unhappy.

She’s right that I get depressed. Should I stop seeing a long-time friend because I’m incapable of achieving even close to his success?

My Too-Successful Friend

https://ellieadvice.com/jealousy-can-ruin-the-best-of-friendships/