Yes, you read that right. I want to talk about the beauty of insignificance.
My whole life, I've had these crazy dreams about being significant. It all centered around the idea of someday being somebody...well I guess there's no better word than significant. And I love that part of me. I love that I aspire to be unique, to try to create music, poetry, and atmospheres that weren't there before. I love that I hate being compared to other people, or someone telling me I look like anyone other than myself. I love doing whatever it takes to not settle for "ordinary"
My whole life, I've had these crazy dreams about being significant.
Sometimes that's to a fault.
I grew up in a little city. It's not like everyone knew who I was, but I had a lot of connections because I'd spent my life there. In a way, I felt significant. Then I moved to a big city, a city full of creative, unique, fashionable people. I found myself feeling quiet and nervous. Suddenly it was like I was figuring out who I was in a new place, even though I thought I knew who I was before. But I didn't like the person I was being.
Suddenly it was like I was figuring out who I was in a new place, even though I thought I knew who I was before.
I started this little journey to find my significance in a new place. The more time that went by, the more I was inundated with social media. It's this false hope of significance. Like maybe if I get enough views, followers, likes, or brand deals I'll be deemed "significant". Maybe if I get enough streams on a song and get to go on tour someday it'll make me significant. Those aren't bad dreams, I think we all to a point should strive for significance. But at what cost?
Like maybe if I get enough views, followers, likes, or brand deals I'll be deemed "significant".
As I scrolled through Instagram and Tiktok, all the people just blurred together. They all have a story to tell, they have talents, dreams, scars, and influence. Yet, they still all merge together in the noise of it all. I was constantly finding new people who have hundreds of thousands of followers yet there are still thousands of people in the world who will never know who they are. It's an insatiable pursuit.
As I scrolled through Instagram and Tiktok, all the people just blurred together.
So then maybe significance isn't people knowing your name or your face.
I'm a Christian and I follow Jesus with my life. I believe he has made each and every one of us significant, I'm not denying that at all. I think every person has a significant plan for their life and a beautiful story that deserves to be heard. Every person has emotions and experiences that are valid and beautiful.
I think every person has a significant plan for their life and a beautiful story that deserves to be heard.
But for all the things that I have going for me, how many people out there have the same? This thing in me that's constantly striving that I'll be significant to everyone is only exhausting. In the grand scheme of the entire planet, I'm pretty insignificant.
In the grand scheme of the entire planet, I'm pretty insignificant.
So what then? Well, I'm the only version of me that was born in the place that I was to the family that I was. Somehow I got into the relationship that I am and now I live in the city that I do. I have the friends and the job and the roommates that I do. And every single day I have the opportunity to be significant to every person I come in contact with. Just because I might not be significant to everyone in the world, I can still be significant in my world. There's a purpose why God has me there.
Well, I'm the only version of me that was born in the place that I was to the family that I was.
And every single day I have the opportunity to be significant to every person I come in contact with.
I still have big dreams, and that's great. We all should. But significance starts in the world you've been placed in. It doesn't start when you have a spotlight or a large following. It's not when you have a career that the rest of the world might mark significant. It's your world right now.
But your significance lies in the world you've been placed in. It doesn't start when you have a spotlight or a large following.
I hope you feel alive. I hope you see the magic in each and every day, in the way the sun casts shadows in your kitchen, in a hand-made cup of coffee on your porch, in a song that so completely touches your core that you cry and you don't even know why, or in that person that knows you so deeply that you don't have to explain yourself, they just get it. Here's to small magic and big significance.
I hope you see the magic in each and every day.