I don't think we should envy the Yankees because they were in the ALCS last year (and got swept, of course, probably due to the shock of making it past round 1). We pushed the Astros harder a year earlier. Their version of competing every year hasn't lifted the ceiling much. I'd take 2018 and the boom-bust cycle over that. As to Houston's constant competition, their core was built first on a foundation of Process-level tanking, an option that is not only off the table in Boston but would have required canceling at least one world title.
The Dodgers' consistency is a model for all of baseball, along with Atlanta, so if you want to be envious of other teams, I'd start there. Even still, we are talking about talent on their rosters *right now*, because before 2020 the Sox were competitive every year. I wouldn't trade their recent past for Boston's, and the future, believe it or not, is not already baked into permanent mediocrity. The Sox are at a low ebb talent-wise and injuries have ruined the last full calendar year, but it's baseball, it doesn't stand still for very long.