The envy we don't admit out loud.
Nobody wants to talk about jealousy. Not spiritual people. Not the confident people. Not the ones who love themselves. Not the healed women or men. Not the strong ones. We all pretend we're above it, but shadow work doesn't care about how you look on the outside. It cares about the truth you whisper to yourself when the room is dark. The truth is: I've been jealous before. Not loud jealousy, not hate, not wishing people failed but quiet sting. The discomfort in your chest when someone has something you want, or becomes something you're trying to become, or receives love you always had to beg for, or moves with confidence you're still building.
I wish I could walk around cluelessly and put off the thoughts of what this horribly beautiful world is. Unfortunately fortunate I was born clever, jealous of those who aren't.
It's the jealousy that hides itself as comparison. The jealousy that shows up as overthinking. The jealousy that says "Why not me?" and not in an of course it's me type of way. The jealousy that makes you shrink instead of expand. I used to pretend it wasn't. " I'm just observing", " I'm just being honest", "I'm just protecting my peace". My most common disguises. The shadow always knows. Jealousy was not my sign that I hated someone else, it was a sign I abandoned myself somewhere along the way. Jealousy points to a wound. Comparison points to a desire. Envy points to a story you're still believing about your worth. Sometimes, I'd find myself comparing my journey to people who weren't even in the same timeline as me. I'd feel that internal drop, like I wasn't enough. Like I wasn't doing enough, like something was wrong with me. (Excuse my language but ain't that about a bitch?)
Here's the part I had to face: Most of the time, my jealousy came from my own insecurities. A version of me I hadn't healed yet. A version of me still operating from lack. I've also been the person people were secretly jealous of, that taught me something too.. Jealousy has nothing to do with the other person. It's always an internal frequency. So now instead of hiding from it, I ask myself:
What part of me feels unworthy right now? What part of me feels behind? What part of me stopped believing in myself? Jealousy isn't the problem. Silence, avoidance, and projection is. Letting the envy grow roots is. When it comes up now, I don't shame myself for it. I listen to it, and I let it show me the places that need more love, more work, more honesty. The shadow isn't trying to embarrass you, It's trying to free you.
This file was me owning the parts of myself I used to hide, so those parts don't own me anymore.
Jealousy only lives in the dark, once you say it's name, it loses power.