Losing Our North

I recently uninstalled Instagram and everything that comes with it. Not as a productivity stunt. I just wanted to take my life back.

And it worked.

I can focus again. I can sit with myself. I can think without this constant urge to check something. But more than anything, my attention has shifted inward again. The last few months it had gone too far outward, and life genuinely started to feel dull.

Today was a slow morning after a week of travelling. No rush, no agenda. I woke up, started replying to messages, and then casually opened WhatsApp stories.

And I noticed something.

Almost everyone was trying to sell something. A service, a product, an idea, or just themselves and the currency was my attention.

Now this is not some big realization for me. I already know this. It is literally what I do for a living. But what stood out today was this: It is no longer a few people playing the game.

Everyone is trying to be an influencer.

And it made me think. Even something as simple as posting a photo, why do we do it? Strip everything away and a big part of the answer is simple.

We want to be seen.

That sounds shallow, but it is not. Being seen means being acknowledged. Being acknowledged means you belong. And somewhere deep in our wiring, belonging has always meant survival. So this is not just people being “attention hungry”. This is human nature, just amplified in a system that never switches off.

Because the system itself is designed to keep you hooked. Sometimes you get attention, sometimes you do not. That unpredictability keeps you coming back. Slowly, you are not just sharing anymore, you are checking, refreshing, waiting.

Craving.

At the same time, something else has quietly shifted. Earlier, your life was seen by a few people. Your world was small, your reference points were stable. Your definition of success was anchored to the people around you. Today, you can see everyone’s life all the time.

So your anchor keeps moving.

There is always someone doing better. Looking better. Living better. You end up comparing your normal Tuesday to someone else’s best moment. And obviously, you fall short.

So what do you do?

You start presenting your life in a certain way too. Every moment becomes something to show. Everything needs to look a little bigger, a little better and slowly, without realizing it, you stop just living. You start performing. That is where it starts getting dangerous.

Because when attention becomes currency, your self-worth starts getting decided outside of you. What gets seen feels valuable. What does not, starts to feel like it doesn’t matter. And one day you realize you do not even know like something anymore, unless it is worth showing. Your internal compass just… drifts.

It feels like most of us have lost our North! Not just everyone else, I had lost it too. Stepping away, even for a bit, helped me feel it again. And it left me with a question that I cannot shake off:

If no one could see my life, how would I choose to live it?

I do not have a perfect answer yet, but I have set out on the journey to find the answer to that. I hope you do too!