In today’s video, I’m going to talk about the hidden cost of retroactive jealousy.



Read or watch below to learn more about the hidden cost of retroactive jealousy and practical steps to overcome its impact on your life.









 Zachary Stockill: As you know, I’m a YouTuber—obviously, I’m a guy talking on YouTube. I create videos here, but I also spend a lot of time watching them.



Recently, I came across a video that really grabbed my attention, and it introduced a concept I think every retroactive jealousy sufferer should consider.



My name is Zachary Stockill, and I’ve been helping people worldwide overcome retroactive jealousy and save their relationships.



If you’d like to learn more about my work or are interested in working with me one-on-one, you can visit here.



For anyone new here, retroactive jealousy refers to unwanted intrusive thoughts, obsessive curiosity, or what I call “mental movies” about your partner’s past relationships or dating history.



One of my goals in discussing this unique topic is to draw connections between retroactive jealousy and seemingly unrelated ideas or concepts.









I was watching the Modern Wisdom Podcast, which I’m a fan of. A Brit named Chris Williamson hosts it, and he’s very good at what he does.



Over the years, he’s done some amazing interviews and is clearly a hard-working guy.



On this podcast, he mentioned a concept that really got me thinking about retroactive jealousy. He was talking about something called “decision cost.”



A lot of people are familiar with the idea of opportunity cost, but what about decision cost?



He described decision cost as the price you pay for indecision.



In other words, if it takes you six months to make a decision, there’s a real cost involved.



You’ve lost that time and possibly wasted it in endless deliberation trying to reach a conclusion.



This is where decision cost comes in. But how does it relate to retroactive jealousy?



If you’re struggling with values-based retroactive jealousy, you’re likely experiencing some level of decision cost as well.



Long-time viewers of this channel and those familiar with my work know that I often break retroactive jealousy into three main categories.



On one hand, there’s relatively minor—what you might even call “normal”—retroactive jealousy.



This happens when you meet someone, fall in love, learn a bit about their past, and while you don’t love it, it doesn’t keep you up at night or bother you much.



It’s not a big deal, more of a passing thought.



Then there’s what I’d describe as more irrational retroactive jealousy, which is closer to OCD.



In this case, there’s no real conflict in values between you and your partner, no serious moral issues, and no actual incompatibility.



Their past doesn’t present any genuine red flags, but the jealousy persists.



You just can’t stop thinking about it, which is why it’s more like OCD.