The achievement that bothers you may reveal a goal you stopped admitting mattered.

Envy makes a poor companion and a fairly good instrument. Most news about other people slides past without catching, and the one that snags usually catches on something you wanted and quietly stopped claiming, often because saying it out loud began to feel unrealistic. The discomfort is pointing at something.

Next time somebody’s news stings, ask what exactly you envied: the work, the recognition, the freedom, the ease. Then ask what a much smaller version of that would look like in your own year.