Something I’ve been realizing lately: My shadow isn’t just the “dark” parts of me. It’s the parts I had to ignore to survive. It’s the instinctual, primal part of me that doesn’t ask for much… so I forget it’s even there. Until I don’t. Until it shows up in ways I can’t ignore—burnout, disconnection, impulsive decisions, that quiet feeling of “something is off.” It’s my anger too. The kind that protects me. The kind I’ve softened, rationalized, or pushed down because I care about people and don’t want to hurt anyone. But anger isn’t the problem. Ignoring it is. It’s also my “too muchness.” The intensity, the depth, the way I feel everything and want real, meaningful connection. At some point that felt like a liability, so part of me learned to shrink, to second-guess, to pull back after showing up fully. And then there’s the part of me that doesn’t even want to heal sometimes. The part that’s tired. That craves chaos because it’s familiar. That doesn’t fully trust safety yet. That part exists too. None of this makes me broken. It makes me human. I’m starting to see my shadow less as something to fix and more as something I need to actually pay attention to. Feed. Listen to. Work with instead of against. Because the truth is—your shadow doesn’t go away just because you ignore it. It just waits. And it will find a way to be seen. The question is whether you meet it with awareness… or let it run the show from behind the scenes. 🖤