i struggle with the feeling of importance

the story starts with a man inspired by a podcast, it’s not the podcast itself that speaks to him but what it represents. he told himself, “his podcast is a means to an end, i realize mine is too.”

from there he decides that change is required, he wants an artwork like the one he saw on the podcast cover art.

he created his, dubbed it “the surfing man.”

what it means is unbeknownst to him at the moment, but it’s meaning would reveal itself in due time.

he then decides to go anonymous, feeling that fame should be a byproduct of the work and not something that should be actively pursued. using the surfing man has his picture, he circulates across his socials.

the story doesn’t end here, after his newfound “animosity,” he decides to disappear.

how can he ghost when he also told us to resist the urge?

he has this feeling that he has nothing more to say to the world anymore, what use is he?

it took some days of spiraling to understand this feeling, he read it in a book.

the important question was asked, why do people do what they do?

everyone yearns for the feeling of importance, that’s how civilization was built, full of passion projects of individuals like the one we discussed earlier, hoping to be appreciated through monuments, attributions and references.

just like Dale Carnegie wrote,

this individual we have been analyzing extensively is struggling with the “feeling of importance,” like we all do.

he drives his sense of importance from the body of work he creates, he feels like he’s doing an act of service to society and it makes him feel important in turn.

now his problem is that his sense of importance has been tied to unresolvable metrics, ones that others might deem important but he shouldn’t.

and just like that he understands the goal and what he must do again.

with the help of a few friends he understands that he is, in fact, helping society with his work.

what do you tie your feeling of importance to?

this is the short story of a man who struggled with the feeling of importance, that man is me.