Essays

If productivity has long defined how we measure our worth, what happens when that structure begins to loosen – when we are no longer needed to produce, and the roles we’ve built our identity around start to shift? What remains when usefulness is no longer enough to explain who we are?

To survive this time, we have to stop measuring ourselves against promises that are no longer kept. The idea of success tends to arrive already defined, carrying a shape that feels difficult to question. It promises direction, stability and recognition, yet begins to shift the moment it is lived rather than imagined. The distance between expectation and reality becomes visible in the contrast between what is pursued and what is done to get by – between prestige and hospitality, titles and survival. What once felt like certainty starts to fracture, making space for a more uncomfortable question – not about achievement, but about value. And whether what has been pursued was ever truly one’s own to begin with.

One thing I’ve never really struggled with is the fear of what strangers think of how I present myself. If anything, I’ve realised over time that not everyone moves through the world like that. It has made me question, at times, whether it borders on narcissism – spoiler: it doesn’t. Yet there is still a downside to not being shaped by other people’s opinions.