I find this to be more of an issue in the artistic community more so than any other, but that is the only place I can speak from.
Your work is not any more sacred to you than it is to your friends.
Just because someone else has fallen in love with your passion does not make it any less your passion.
On the contrary, in art specifically, you are to be friends with the people you may deem your competitors. Art is a selfish passion. It is giving. You are not allowed to keep it locked in a cage. You have to let it free, and you have to share that with your counterparts.
I wish that this would have been told to me when I first started out in my artistic career, but fortunately, it was said to me at all. And the only thing that I can do is relay the best advice that I was given at 16: Support your friends in your own craft, with your craft, and stop acting like it is only your thing.
You don't get to obtain possession of passion.
Passion is communal. And so ambition.
You've gotta support the people who would die for you.
First of all, you remember the people who don't support you. You do over those who support you. You remember the people who don't show up over those who do sometimes.
And that's why you've gotta be the friend who shows up.
Support is not always 100% convenient. But neither is the support that you gain.
Look at it this way: If you're bad at everything in the whole world. If you don't have a skill in your back pocket. If you're absolutely terrible at everything you love. Then you should know that there is the guarantee that you have a good friend on your side and that you are a good friend. That's really the only secret weapon you need: friendship.
And like, good, solid friendship.
If you're a good friend, then chances are, you've got an even better friend by your side. Do not let competition ruin the relationships and potential friendships around you. That's toxic.
Jealousy has no place in a good friendship.
From now on, we're only out here to support our current friends, our future friends, and our about-to-be-friends friends.