You Matter More Than You Think
Winds of change are within you, always
Have you ever felt invisible, inconsequential, as if few people would notice if you disappeared? Perhaps you experienced times in your life when you believed you mattered more because of roles you filled — parent, employee, employer, or athlete. Then roles changed, or perhaps you lost the role, and you felt disoriented. Perhaps you never felt important, and tragically others may have told you that you were a mistake, would never amount to anything, or you were a loser.
What thoughts accompanied feeling lost, invisible, or unimportant? What did you start to believe about yourself? Once you felt stuck experiencing those feelings and beliefs, how did your life change? How invested were you in taking care of yourself? How much energy did you have? How exhausted did you feel? How engaged were you in your relationships, your work or studies, the world around you? How connected or disconnected did you feel? What were the top five most frequent feelings and thoughts that you experienced?
When you feel stuck on a hamster wheel of feeling invisible and believing you don’t matter, without meaning to do it, you believed something inaccurate. What is true, and where does the truth reside? In our culture, unfortunately, we think mattering is based on what we do, what we accomplish, or on what others tell us. Our mattering is conditional. What if that is just inaccurate? What if the truth of our mattering resides inside us and is unconditional? How could your life change if you realized you matter because you are — because of your be-ing — and not your do-ing?
You thought you did not matter, but what if that was like thinking 2+2=7 or thinking the sun rises in the west and sets in the east? No need to judge; you discovered you believed something inaccurate, and now you know different.
Ah, but you say you’re different. You really don’t matter because you’ve done something really bad, illegal even, or hurt someone or yourself too deeply. You say you are inconsequential and invisible because you failed or lost your job. Somehow, your situation is worse; you are somehow unredeemable. You are the exception to the rule. I agree you are unique, and your mattering remains unconditional, no matter what. Even if the consequences of your choices have you living in prison for life with no parole, you still matter. You may live out the remainder of your life in confinement, and you matter.
Why care about any of this? You knowing at the core of who you are that you matter without conditions is important, because you have a purpose in being here. You have the freedom, power, and responsibility to create your life; and it’s time you know that. It’s time because the world needs you, now, to create your life with purpose. Whether in poverty or confinement, comfort or wealth, your existence is unique and matters.
If you think you don’t matter, you just believe something inaccurate. Changing your life can be one different thought away. Oh the places you could go with that different thought! You could change the world.