What is your relationship to jealousy?
 
Do you shut down, reject people, beat yourself up, project your inadequacies onto others, talk smack?
 
Or do you get curious, poke at it, play with, dive into, even love your jealousy?
 
For most of my life, I did the former.
 
I would shut down when someone succeeded at something. I’d take it personally. I’d beat myself up: “You already had that idea. Why didn’t you act on it?”
 
The sting of jealousy felt too sharp for me to want to lean in any closer. I wasn’t “good enough.” I’d let myself down.
 
A world where jealousy is bad supposes something false: that there’s only one go round at success, one shot at an idea, only room for one bright, shiny person.
 
Which, of course, is a lie. (You know that, right?)
 
When you start poking at jealousy, some very useful information emerges.
 
Jealousy is a beacon leading you straight to your desires.
 
Someone wrote something brilliant?
 
Jealousy is telling you that you want to write something brilliant too.
 
Your bestie is making loads of money?
 
Jealousy is whispering to you that you crave abundance.
 
Or maybe it’s something more nuanced: I want to do that but I would do it this way. I want more money but I would spend it on that.
 
Cool. That’s beautiful, useful information.
 
So what now?
 
Act on it. Show up. Tell jealousy that you hear the call and you’re up to the game.
 
What’s your way of speaking that thing, of crafting it into existence?
 
Find it and your jealousy will start to dissolve into the joy of creation. All of those things stuffed down inside of you will breathe into the light. They will be liberated.
 
More space will be created. More ideas will come. You will forget that you were ever in competition because you will be in motion, moving towards your desires.
 
We are powerful. We can call in that abundance, that success, those beautiful, impactful words. When we give ourselves permission. When we believe in our own brilliance. When we love our jealousy for the cheeky messenger that it is.
 
Jealousy is whispering something. Some truth that it wants you to lean in closer and hear.
 
“You want something?” it’s saying.
 
Go get it.