We all want to be significant. We all want others to care about us and we want our name to be remembered many years from now. My fear of being insignificant is a fear that I’m sure is not uncommon to many of you reading this article. Take a situation such as this: have you ever been driving in your car, cruising down the road when a car will pass and you can’t help yourself from thinking about the people inside? What are they like? Are they like me? Are they happy? When this happens to me, I will suddenly feel so small; out of the billions of people on this planet, I am only one.
Feeling insignificant, or too small to be worth consideration, is a scary feeling that may be fleeting or it may linger, as it always seems to in my case. How in the world could I matter when I am only one? What do my goals and accomplishments even mean when compared to those of the other seven billion in the world? These thoughts are not only depressing but frankly, quite terrifying. What is the point of trying if the chances of leaving a mark are so incredibly slim?
The solution I’ve found to this common problem of mine is only a half solution, but it’s the best I have. While a century from now my name likely will not be remembered, or someone may come across my face in an old year book, or in the family history binder and have no clue who I was. I am here now. I am here with billions of others like me, some who will make a name that will be forever remembered, but many more who will live and will die and that is that. It is enough that you are here and breathing today; it is enough that someone out there knows your name and your face today, even if that someone is yourself.
You may feel insignificant. You may feel so small, as if no one gives a care about you. This feeling is crushing and overwhelming, but do not let this hinder you. You are significant so long as someone gives you consideration and you are giving yourself this consideration by fretting over your smallness.
You are significant because you are. Your goals matter because you are and what you do matters because you are. It will not matter if your name is not remembered in a century because you are alive here today and that is enough to prove your significance on this earth.
You don’t need to be everything to everyone; you only need to be something for the one(s) who matter the most. This could be family, friends, your significant other, but honestly, you only need to be enough for you. Your goals matter to you, and this is enough for you to pursue them. You are here today and that is enough to prove your significance.