Oprah Winfrey

So Ina never cancels unless she is really sick.

Definitely.

And you just know it.

And it builds this trust.

And we live in this flake culture where people have really, I mean, I think it's a terrible thing to do.

It really erodes friendships.

One way to make people feel like they matter is to commit to them.

So they can trust you.

They can trust that when they make a plan, you will be there.

They told me no or not anymore.

I spoke with doctors who felt crushed by insurance companies, not able to practice the care they wanted.

I heard from first responders wondering if their efforts were really making an actual difference.

I heard from caregivers who felt like they mattered too much to everyone else, except that their needs were never prioritized.

I spoke with a college student

who told me that she only felt like she mattered when her GPA was high and her weight was low.

So it was a crushing experience, but I also met people who found a way back to mattering.

We have, you know, this is, as you said in the intro, this basic human need that we have stopped treating as a need and more like a nice to have.

And the problem is when you don't feed that need

you will find other ways to meet it, whether conscious or not conscious.

It is, it's a false sense of mattering.