Shadow Work Examples
Abstract ideas get clearer with cases. Here's what shadow work actually looks like — three patterns, and the journal entries that move them.
Each example follows the same arc: a situation, the shadow taking over, and what integration looks like in practice. You'll likely recognise a piece of yourself in more than one.
The situation. Maya says yes to everything and is known as ‘so easy to work with.’ Then she explodes over something tiny — a coworker borrowing her stapler.
The shadow in action. Her anger isn't about the stapler. Years of swallowed ‘no’ built up behind a friendly persona until a small thing breached the dam. The disowned trait — healthy self-assertion — lives in her shadow.
Integration. She starts noticing the body-level ‘no’ she overrides. She practises small, direct refusals before the pressure builds. The anger shrinks because it finally has a front door.
The situation. Daniel's identity is competence. He works late, never asks for help, and quietly panics whenever he doesn't already know the answer.
The shadow in action. Under the drive is a disowned fear of being ordinary. The shadow runs the achievement engine — not toward something, but away from feeling not-enough.
Integration. He names the fear instead of outrunning it. He lets himself be a beginner at one thing on purpose. The work stays; the desperation behind it eases.
The situation. Priya prides herself on being kind and non-judgmental — yet privately seethes with contempt for people she finds ‘fake.’
The shadow in action. Her own disowned hunger for status and approval is projected outward. The people she judges carry the very trait she won't admit in herself.
Integration. She tracks the judgment back to its source and owns her ordinary wish to be liked. The contempt fades as the projection comes home.
What the journal entries look like
Integration rarely arrives as a thunderclap. On the page it reads small and specific:
- “Snapped at my partner again. The trigger was feeling unseen — same as last week.”
- “I envy Sam's confidence. Maybe I buried mine to stay likeable.”
- “Said no today and the world didn't end. Noted.”
Strung together over weeks, lines like these are the work. The pattern loosens one honest entry at a time.
These are illustrative patterns, not diagnoses. This is a tool for self-reflection, not therapy.
Find your own pattern
The test names your shadow archetype — your version of the cases above — so the work gets personal fast.
Which of these is yours?
Ten minutes to name your shadow archetype and see your own version of the pattern.