There’s this weird pressure these days to clap for everybody, hype everybody up, water down your standards, and pretend every interaction deserves access to your energy.
Respectfully… no.
I’m not built for fake enthusiasm, forced loyalty, or ego maintenance programs.
I don’t kiss ass.
I don’t stroke egos.
I don’t care about status, popularity, titles, followers, or who thinks they’re the “main character” in every room.
What I do care about?
Reciprocity. Effort. Genuine connection. Mutual respect.
I believe relationships—friendships, family, dating, even basic human interaction—should feel like a two-way street. Not me pulling a wagon uphill while somebody rides in the back eating snacks and contributing absolutely nothing but audacity.
And somehow… that makes people uncomfortable.
Because when you stop performing for approval, people who survive off validation start malfunctioning a little.
See, some people are addicted to being catered to. They expect automatic access to your time, energy, attention, support, loyalty, and emotional labor simply because they exist. Meanwhile they can barely return a text, show up consistently, or clap for you unless there’s an audience involved.
That’s not connection.
That’s a subscription service with terrible customer support.
And listen—I’m not cold-hearted. I love hard. I support people deeply. I’ll show up, encourage you, root for you, defend you, and celebrate you loudly…
If the energy is mutual.
That’s the difference.
I’m not interested in transactional relationships, but I am interested in balanced ones. The kind where both people pour into each other instead of one person becoming the unpaid emotional intern.
Because life gets real funny when you realize:
Some people don’t actually miss you… they miss access to what you provided.
And whew. That realization will clear your vision faster than bad Wi-Fi during a work meeting.
The older I get, the less impressed I am by popularity and the more impressed I am by consistency.
Show me kindness without an audience.
Show me loyalty without convenience.
Show me support that doesn’t disappear the second attention shifts elsewhere.
That matters more to me than status ever will.
And honestly? I think a lot of us are finally reaching a point where we’d rather have a small circle of genuine people than a giant crowd of performance-based relationships.
Because peace hits different when you stop overextending yourself to people who would never inconvenience themselves for you.
So no… I’m probably never going to be the person overly flattering people for approval or pretending to be impressed by titles and social hierarchy.
But I will continue being real, showing love where it’s returned, and protecting my energy like the premium resource it is.
And if that makes me “too much,” “hard to read,” or “unimpressed”…
Cool.
At least I’m not out here doing Olympic-level gymnastics for acceptance from people who don’t even like themselves.
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