Why are people jealous of success of others?

According to a sales motivational speaker I once heard, not many people want the likes of you to aspire or gain more success than themselves, so they talk smack to keep you down where they are. Ignore them and move forward and upward!

Going to agree with @kritiper on this one.

If they happened to be my relatives, I would politely say, “I am sorry you resent my working for a good life, and I won’t bother you again.”

And then I wouldn’t ever socialize with them again.

Why? Because jealousy (for whatever the cause is) is a natural instinct for any creature with complex psychological capability. From time to time we subconsciously envy other people whether it’s for big or small thing.

I say not to blame the jealousy, but to remedy the action caused by jealous people.

Give me one good reason why anyone shouldn’t ignore the hardships of others.

Emotions are not always based on logic. People can be jealous but as long as they don’t act out their jealousy, it’s ok with me. We can’t control their emotions but as long as they behave in a civil manner, that’s what counts.

I wonder if there is an evolutionary origin. Let’s play with it., using generalities, of course. Mathematically a genetic trait only needs to offer a 5% reproductive advantage to outnumber the other trait holders by 4 times in 25 generations. (I remember that number from somewhere. One of the mathematicians here can verify it. )

In general, females pick the more successful Alpha males as mating partners. (Proven to continue today from the work by Dubner, Levitt) That leaves others, the Betas, in need of mates.
They can go about life 2 ways:
Beta 1 can recognize that Alpha is totally better and earned his position, and resign himself to his fate of no sex.
Beta 2 figures that Alpha was just lucky and no better than Beta 2 so he stands tall and figures it is just a matter of time before he finds a mate as well.

Beta females look at B1 and B2 and pick a mate. Which do they pick: the depressed, resigned to failure one, or the confident one who figures he is just as good as Alpha and will be a success one day? If that choice produces only a 5% reproductive advantage, in 25 generations, 500 years, that trait will be ingrained in 80% of the population.

If everybody who came from your circumstances is failing, it’s possible that your own failures are not your fault and are just a product of your situation. But if someone with a similar background to you is doing great, then you feel there must be something wrong with you. Your shortcomings must be due to a mistake you made. Wishing for others to fail is something we do for ourselves mentally, to avoid taking responsibility for our own failures.