the world—is competition

the world does not include some competition. the world is competition. 

if we look at people and society only, everything is competition. the grocery store is filled with competing products. the job market is competition. Instagram is a competition. YouTube is a competition. academics is a competition. internship applications are a competition. finding a student dorm is a competition. consumption is a competition. article publishing is a competition. fashion is a competition. fame is a competition. education is a competition. wedding ceremonies are a competition. health and lifestyle are a competition. excellence is a competition. 

happiness is a competition.

you see where I’m going with this?

we’ve reached a point where it seems that the people we are never seem to be enough. and while, at the back of our minds, we know that there will always be someone better than us at some- or many things, on the spot it just seems like an awful truth. admit it, you really wanted that opportunity.

but we aren’t enough… in the eyes of whom?

allow me to begin illustrating: 

so I’ve recently joined LinkedIn (I was very late to the party apparently), and after setting up my profile, I started connecting with people I know; classmates, schoolmates, professors…

I was looking at the profiles of the people I know and thought to myself “….” (yup, that’s accurate. I was bewildered).

a lot of people’s titles and positions on LinkedIn seem…unreal? Everybody’s suddenly the co-founder of something, the executive salesperson somewhere, the critically acclaimed I-don’t-know-what, the full-time researcher in some institute…

so I thought to myself “but we just graduated together yesterday…? when did you even have the time to become all of those things?!”

and that really made me think: when some recruiter finds you on LinkedIn, and let’s say you do get an interview for a job, aren’t you worried that the truth behind your magnified titles will not really appeal to the recruiter? when they realize that your “research career” is just a 2-month internship in a 2-year study? 

why not just show the world who we really are and search for a place that accepts us for our actual skills?

here’s another example: when you go onto Instagram and see that Scarlett Leithold posted a new photo where she looks absolutely stunning and social medially beautiful, or when an influencer posts yet another photo of her van trip around Europe or of herself doing yoga/eating a perfectly perfect fruit bowl…

I am tired of people just putting-on-display parts of themselves and their lives that they know other people will compare themselves to (i.e., very thin waist, expensive products, access to food resources that are not available everywhere, eco-friendly and vegan clothing, etc.).

but more than that. I had this realization lately that everybody romanticizes their life to a certain extent—some more than others, to the point where it blows my mind some people genuinely think the content creator really has their life so together.

a lot of people may not see this, but a massive part of this content creation phenomenon stems from competition. getting paid for getting lots of views, or selling a product, or just making people envy you for the lifestyle you have!

but why? who started this?

[deep breathing break]

[final exhale]

aside from the people who post pictures of things they happen to view as social media worthy, people who regularly seek to go to places and buy things that look good, or make people who visit/buy them feel good, want you to see those places and make you go i’d love to go there and i’d love to own that. people who continually post snippets to showcase how great their life is want you to believe their existence is that effortless and utopian. it’s a competition… with benefits. the latte can be profit or simple validation (or both).

what I do want to say is that you are enough. you always have been and you will always be. remember a little earlier in this post when I asked why not look for places that will accept us for our actual skills? I know they exist because I was accepted in so many places for simply being the person I am. 

I can simply say that God has been so kind to me, and all that is good in me is Him.

AND to Him, you are a masterpiece and you are enough, without a doubt. you are more than enough. if the companies/organizations/universities you are dying to join fail to see that, fail to see you for who YOU are, then it’s their loss. 

just be a kind human being. work on a skill because the skill appeals to you, not because it’s what society wants from the replicas it wants us to become. don’t go out of your way or go in debt just so that you can show off what you own. good things will come for those who are patient. good things will come to people who dare to be themselves, working on themselves for themselves, and are good people.

happiness is not a competition. you deserve to know you are enough. you deserve to be happy for who you are and with the people who love you regardless. you’ve got potential.

He loves you, and so do I.