WordPress Daily Writing Prompt #2812 for July 4, 2026
We live in a world driven by metrics, likes, and constant feedback, making it incredibly easy to fall into the trap of measuring our worth by how much others notice us. I recently stumbled upon a profound reminder to step off that treadmill. While scrolling through Threads on June 19th, I came across a post from Monk Shen Yu. For those unfamiliar with the account, Monk Shen Yu isn’t a single, real-world historical figure; it is a beautifully crafted modern wisdom project overseen by a small creative team. They use a digital persona to distill ancient, Eastern-inspired philosophical teachings into bite-sized reminders for the modern world. Even though the screen avatar is the product of technology, the human heart behind the script hit me with the force of a sudden revelation.
The post read:
“Sometimes nothing good happens to you because you are the good that happens to others. If you have ever felt like you give everything but nothing comes back – this might be why. You are the blessing. The way you love without keeping score. The way you show up without being asked. The way you hold people together quietly, without anyone noticing the effort it costs you. Some people were not meant to receive the light. They were meant to be it.” — Monk Shen Yu (@monkshen), June 19, 2026
Reading those words completely floored me because they spoke directly to a quiet, painful struggle I carry every day. I often battle deep feelings of inadequacy. I frequently feel like I am neither truly seen nor genuinely heard by the people around me. In my daily life, I work incredibly hard to be kind, empathetic, and genuinely helpful. I invest an immense amount of emotional energy into my relationships, only to find that very few people in my orbit ever return that level of investment.
If I am being entirely honest, it hurts. It hurts more than it probably should. It leaves me feeling left out, put upon, and occasionally trapped in a bitter cycle of resentment. In my darkest moments, I feel as though my faults, failures, and negative traits are magnified under a microscope for everyone to see, while everything that is genuinely good, pure, and loving within me is somehow hidden away, entirely unnoticed by the world. Decades of financial struggles and deep, long-term depression left me broken. I constantly wondered when things would get better.
But this quote sparked a total, tectonic shift in my perspective.
It made me realize that chasing validation from people who may simply lack the capacity to give it back is entirely pointless. I am learning that it is completely okay if others do not validate my efforts. True freedom comes when we choose to live entirely in the present moment, doing our absolute best to live right and do what is right—not to perform for the applause of a crowd or to please unappreciative people, but simply to protect and cultivate our own internal peace of mind.
When you actively live out what you truly believe, you eliminate the exhausting friction of cognitive dissonance. You stop trying to force your light into spaces that choose to remain dark. I cannot even properly explain the refreshing, weightless freedom that this realization has granted me over the last two weeks. At the same time, I am realistic about the journey ahead. This isn’t a magical, one-time declaration where you say the words once and suddenly “all is well” forever. It is a practice. It is something I will have to consciously choose to live out every single day, with quiet, stubborn intention.
To be clear, this shift refers to my “in real life” existence more than it does to my “online” life. I am incredibly fortunate to have a group of long-term Facebook friends who often stand between me and the darkness. In the past year or so, I have been able to distance myself from all forms of negativity thrown my direction on social media. Being “unfriended,” blocked, or disparaged are now more like water down a duck’s back versus complete devastation. I am no longer wildly reactive to these things. I just let them go. It’s about them, not me. My “social media” life is so much more peaceful now. My “in real life” existence is becoming one of healing, as a few broken relationships are being rebuilt through mutual understanding and forgiveness. I am accepting that other relationships will never be restored, and the bridge that was burned will never be rebuilt. There is no blame. It’s a consequence of hurtful words and actions. Sometimes mutual, sometimes not. This, too, is OK. I choose to offer my own apology always, forgiveness when truly appropriate, and wish them well, in peace. No matter which way the wind will blow, I choose to be kind.
It’s a true paradigm shift for me to realize that “being me” isn’t “all about me“ only, because it’s so much more. I am grateful for this life lesson, and I am giving myself permission to stop keeping score—-to just be—–and just do.
Let’s Chat:
Have you ever felt like you were over-investing in relationships that left you running on empty? How do you practice finding validation from within yourself rather than seeking it from the world around you? Let’s hold space for each other in the comments below.
Copyright © 2009-2026 by Maria Appleby for Maria’s Musings: Tales My Heart Tells. All Rights Reserved.
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