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A post shared by Elephant Journal (@elephantjournal) on May 4, 2019 at 8:51am PDT

I’m tired of people saying, “stop playing small, play big.”

As if big and loud and noisy are the only ways to get things done around here.

Almost every day when I scroll through Instagram, I see these public figures preaching that we need to step into our power and not settle for anything less than we deserve. But why is it that we’ve now equated social media and having a life in the public eye with motivation and success?

What if I don’t want to play big? What if I thrive off small, meaningful moments in my life that have a subtle but rippling effect. What does “playing big” even mean anyway? Does it have to mean 10K plus followers on social media, documenting every second of your journey to the top? Does playing big have to mean starting a YouTube channel or becoming a life coach?

What about the unseen heroes of our world? The nurses who save lives every day. The government workers, like my mom who works in climate change action, fighting behind the scenes to save our planet, and convince the big guys of what they need to do to help.

What about the people who work those “meaningless corporate jobs” to get their kids through school and pay their bills and are living their lives in service of someone else—aren’t they heroes too?

What about the people who volunteer their time on weekends and don’t post on social media about it?

What about the journalists of the world? The ones who go head-first into war zones.

There are people playing small all across the world—their voices might be a little bit quieter and a little less glamorous—but it doesn’t make their impact any less meaningful.

Maybe I don’t want to live in a big city and “have influence.” Maybe I don’t want to lay myself bare to a bunch of people on the internet in order to make a difference. Maybe I don’t want to have a high-power job and only work with the MVPs of the world.

Maybe I just want to live a quiet life, a good life, a meaningful life, and do my part to make this world a better place in a way that’s genuine to me.

So, no—I do not need to play big in order to make it big. I do not need to be anything other than me.

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