Jealous of people who never have to work

I know this is really childish. I am really jealous of people who are rich, who have trust funds, who are famous, or who otherwise never have to work.
I wake up tossing and turning or in a sweat some nights because of the anxiety I feel about working every day for the next 45 years. It's gotten increasingly bad at night, where I'm waking up about 4 times throughout the night just thinking about work or college or coworkers or customers or money.
I had a conversation with someone a few days ago who said "Haha I will never have to work, my dad owns 3 factories and when he passes away I will inherit them. He will probably just give me an easy position with a great salary until that time comes anyway."
I came across a website that listed a celebrity's net worth of 140 million dollars.
I have a friend who is a trust fund baby living in Santa Monica in a mansion.
I know someone close to me who never has to work a day in her life because she won the jackpot, literally.
All these things are just huge reminders that I'll be slaving away in a job for years to come and they won't have to.

I don't know how to just get over this. I want to strike gold or something but I know that's unrealistic. I just have so much anxiety, more so than the average person it seems like, and its almost crippling.
I often imagine how much easier my life would be if I were sitting on a couple million and that life is so drastically different than the life I'm living now.

How can I get over this and stop being so jealous, or wishing for other people's success?

I come from generations of working class family members. My dad was an electrician and my mom was an office manager. They both worked hard jobs their entire lives from being a cashier at a grocery store, to being a bank teller, to a busser, to a secretary until they landed higher paying careers. The thought of just trying to survive paycheck to paycheck really scares me. Or not knowing where life will take me as far as jobs are concerned...or not knowing what I really want to do.
My grandma was a waitress for her entire life. My grandpa was a mechanic. My aunt is a teacher. My uncle is a truck driver. My boyfriend is a cop. I have no idea what I want to do and this keeps me up at night. I'm also really shy and get intimidated by people easily.

When I feel this way I read the completed OD's of very rich people. They have $$$ to burn it usually looks like a great life but that is because that is what they show to outside world. They have troubles too. Yes $$$ can buy anything or anyone I just don't think I would want that. Waiting for dad to die still having to answer to dad at 30 40 50 ugh.

Wealth is wasted on the the rich. If I had some money I would use it to do something that mattered.

Still, it's just money. It holds no value at the end of your life. Try to remember that.

I have moments like this from time to time. More often than I would like, I'm afraid. I feel ungrateful when I feel this way because the reality is, there are people tossing and turning and waking up in the middle of the night out there because they have no income and wonder where the money to purchase food for breakfast for their family will come from in the morning. I begin counting my blessings...

Still, I hear ya because sometimes even that doesn't work. I'm in my mid forties and I find myself envious of those that are closer to retirement than I am too as well as those who have never worked a day in their lives and will not ever have to do so. There are days (due to my anxiety) when I am at work that from the moment I arrive until I leave, I am wired, on edge and feel like I want to throw up. Those days are rough because I want to be anywhere but there doing anything but that but it's confusing too because I have no idea what I want to do instead. You know?

Inevitably though, the feelings pass. There are days when it's okay and I realize that another day is behind me and I got through and maybe even helped a few people along the way and it's not so bad. I detest feeling anxious at work, I mean you're there for 8 hours of your day and often times (for me anyway) the anxiety doesn't just shrivel up and go away as soon as I'm off work; it spills into the rest of my evening and then invades my sleep!

So, on those rough days when I wake up fitful from lack of sleep because of all my worrying, I just try and keep my head down and barrel through and pray A LOT! When the day is over, I literally look at it as survival and count that as one of my blessings too because I cannot help the way I feel about this, no matter whether people who are jobless out there have it worse than me or not. You know?

I haven't worked in about a year due to depression. Right now I WANT to work because I am so bored and feel so unproductive. Not working has affected my self esteem a lot. I'm not jealous of people who don't have to work, at least not right not now. Ask me that a few months after I've been working, and that may be a different story, lol.

I wish I could work. I'm not working due to schizophrenia (imagine it getting worse when I was 49!) but otherwise I worked all my life. Maybe if you can find a job you like it won't be so bad. Or at least if you could set your own schedule.

CosmicRose, that person you had the convo with the other day about inheriting his father's factories - he may be surprised. If his father's factories close or his father doesn't give him the job, he may not have the skills he needs to survive on his own where someone who grew up poor might. You are probably a much better budgeter than that guy is.

I try to remind myself that we can't really be held responsible for the circumstances we were born into, whether we were born poor or rich. It's not the trust fund baby's fault that they have a trust fund.

I try to be happy for other people's good fortune. Yeah, it would be nice if I came into a ton of money or grew up rich, but it's not going to happen.

I had a dream last night where I was at a college graduation and a man in his 20s came up to me and said, "I'm retiring soon!" LOL I felt jealous even in my dream!
I feel the same way, I even had anxiety during school and it got worse in high school. I felt on edge the entire day, and that continued into my first few jobs or volunteering gigs. I hope I'll just stop caring so much about it one day, but I guess that feeling of anxiety is the feeling of wanting to do a good job and not mess up, which is kind of a good thing, but it can also get in the way a lot. So having to find that inner balance is the trick. Not caring so much, but caring to still do a good job. I read a line that made me feel better, it said "Mediocrity is everywhere in the workplace." I'm a perfectionist who stresses out big time, so just reading that made me feel a little better LOL

I think its the workplace politics that get to me most. Being in a serving role always made me feel less than, no matter what it was. Always having to please a customer, makes me want to run out of there like I'm on fire.
Right now I'm 22 and I'm dealing with just trying to land a job. The whole "needing experience without relevant experience" is a difficult hurdle.

It is too bad the current system is essentially designed to make it very difficult to survive without any money...if that wasn't the case it really would be useless paper. Most people probably prefer the end of their life comes later rather than sooner...having money to cover ones needs and enjoyment can help with that.

I hate that money is needed but realistically I cannot just say 'well it has no value when I die so meh' because unfortunately kind of hard to survive without it so that thought ends up not being so comforting.

I do not work, but am on SSI....its not a well paying income, not even sure I'll be able to afford moving out of my moms house with it, but hopefully I can eventually work something out. I kinda wish I could work so I'd have better income since its kind of a struggle getting by with SSI....though it would be much worse if I didn't have a roof over my head.

Work can be satisfying or it can be just that, work. Everyone works, regardless of whether it is for financial gain or to survive. Life is hard work. Just living is work. It is a matter of figuring out what helps you and what hurts you. You could stay in a job that is hurting you for the rest of your life, or try to find another job that is more satisfying. I understand it seems to you that those who are financially secure are happier. But no one knows each others struggles, and it could be all taken away again. We don't live here to gain material things, and this is only my perspective, take it how you feel, but I just want peace. It is so distressing to see people in poverty and being hurt all over the world, with very little we can do about it. If work is causing you great distress, please try to find ways after work to de-stress, and things that will help you decrease your anxiety. Like social groups, calming activities, eating healthy and taking care of yourself.

Years back, I had to drive more than 70 miles to see my female therapist. This reminded me. Most every time we went outside to talk and sit in a near by park. Very few times we walk into a near by neighborhood where the richest lived in town. Many very large, and old homes that spoke of money. One day while walking, once again, seen it before, there was this huge two or three story red brick home. My therapist said the people look as if all was well, but things were not good at all in the home. You can't know just by seeing the outside. Most very rich people are not stupid, and made $$$$ own their own. Many given $$$$ lose it all. But no amount of money cures what the heart may be having to deal with. Many simple intelligent people know what makes them happy, and it has nothing to do with $$$$$$.