Seen and Understood: For the Quiet Ones With Loud Inner Worlds

  So, you’ve tried all the basic advice: ☑️ Save money ☑️ Work online ☑️ Delete Instagram at 2 a.m., only to reinstall it at 10 a.m. Still feel stuck? That’s because the Matrix doesn’t just live on your phone or in your job . It lives in the small, unquestioned habits that quietly form your soul. And most “escape plans” just slap a new hustle over the old one. Let’s go deeper. Here are lesser-known but powerful practices to break free from the system without self-combusting or selling your soul.   ✦ ✦ ✦ 1. Build a Weekly Anti-Productivity Day Most people only think of Sabbath as a day off. But what if you practiced a deliberate, unoptimized day each week? A day where you: Refuse to track your time Let the house stay messy Turn off your phone entirely Don’t post anything Cook slowly Pray slowly Sit longer than necessary This is what ancient monastics did. Not to be lazy, but to train their souls for Heaven’s rhythm . “Six days you shall labor… but the seventh is a ...

Today, I read a Reddit post that made me pause mid-scroll, mid-bite of a cold sandwich I didn’t actually want. Someone was quitting their job. Not for a better salary, not for remote work, not even for the elusive "career growth." They were leaving because they felt like an NPC . You know, a non-player character . One of those background filler people in a video game who loop endlessly, saying things like, “Welcome to the marketplace!” while walking into walls. And I swear, something in my soul whispered: “Oh. It me."   ✦ ✦ ✦   The Background Character Life It starts out subtly. You wake up, hit snooze 3–7 times, scroll emails in bed like a raccoon rifling through digital trash, then drag yourself to your desk. Another day of looking alert in Zoom meetings while your spirit quietly dissolves in the background. At lunch, you eat the same uninspired meal from the same uninspired cafe. At 3:00 PM, you question your life choices. At 5:58 PM, you consider quitting everyth...

I don’t love my job. There. I said it. It’s one of those things where the hours pass, but the soul doesn’t grow. I don’t dread it exactly, but I don’t wake up excited either. And maybe that’s been the hardest part, that quiet ache of going through motions when your spirit is meant for something more. But in the midst of all this, I’ve been learning to spot the joy. Not big, Instagrammable, mountain-moving moments. Just small, sacred ones. The ones God hides like little notes in your lunchbox. ✦ ✦ ✦ Weekday Evenings: My Tiny Altars of Joy There’s something about coming home after a long workday and reaching for a snack that just… heals something inside. For me, it’s Eureka popcorn -  the Spicy Cuttlefish flavour. Something about the crunch and the umami hits differently when the fluorescent lights of the office are behind me. Sometimes, it’s iced coffee  in a glass I didn’t have to share with anyone. Or melon milk from Korea (Binggrae) , sweet and artificial and unapolo...

  Lately, I’ve been asking myself a question I didn’t think I’d need to ask: “How am I this tired… when I’m not even doing that much?” I don’t work crazy hours. I’m not juggling five different jobs. And yet… I feel drained. Not the kind of tired that sleep fixes - but the kind that leaves you mentally foggy, spiritually disconnected, and low-key dreading Mondays (and Tuesdays… and every day, really). It took me a while to admit it: I’m experiencing mental burnout. Not because my job is “too much,” but because it isn’t my calling  - and pretending like it is has slowly worn me down. When Your Work Feels Like a Cage I don’t hate my job. It pays the bills. It’s stable. Some days, I even find pockets of joy in it. But deep inside, I know this isn’t what I was created for. I crave meaning. Creativity. Impact. Freedom. But instead, I feel like I’m stuck, living on autopilot in a role that doesn’t align with my heart. It’s not burnout from overwork . It’s burnout from un...