The shadow is a term from Jungian psychology,
But don't let that intimidate you.
The concept is simple and you've been living it your whole life.
Your shadow is a collection of parts of yourself that you've rejected,
Denied or hidden away.
Because they weren't acceptable at the time,
Whatever the environment may have been in,
It wasn't acceptable,
You didn't feel safe.
So let me break that down.
So when you were a kid,
You were whole,
You had your emotions,
You had your impulses,
And you had your needs.
You were messy,
You were complicated,
But you were human.
But at some point you learn,
Potentially from your parents,
From your school,
From your friendship group,
Society,
That certain parts of you weren't okay.
Maybe your anger was unacceptable and it triggered something in someone else,
So it wasn't okay.
Maybe your sadness made people uncomfortable because they couldn't hold space for you.
Maybe your neediness got labeled as weak.
And maybe your ambition was seen as selfish.
So you did what every kid does to survive.
You split yourself up into two.
You kept the parts that you got love for and approval and safety,
And you shoved the rest into the basement of your psyche,
The back of your head,
The basement.
That's the shadow.
