Knowing Your Worth in a World That Profits Off Your Insecurities

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By Imawol Empressions

This post will get an update within 24 hrs.

Let me begin with a truth the world would rather you forget:

We live in an economy of insecurity.
Billions are made convincing you that you're not enough.
Not pretty enough. Not strong enough. Not successful enough.
And if you just bought this cream, chased that title, got their attention, maybe… just maybe… you’d finally be worthy.

This is not empowerment.
This is emotional colonization.
And for far too long, I shrank myself to fit into the mold of what I thought would make me lovable. Desirable. Safe.

But here's the twist they don’t want you to know:
Real connection never required your shrinkage.
It required your wholeness.

📍 The Lie We Inherited: “If I’m More Likeable, I’ll Be More Loved”

I remember sitting across from someone who claimed to love me—while I was contorting, editing, filtering. Laughing at jokes that weren’t funny. Swallowing opinions that felt like truth in my bones. Pretending to need less, say less, be less.

And do you know what I got in return?

More performance. More conditional affection. More crumbs passed off as meals.

The world sells us this narrative:
If you just behave right…
If you just dress right…
If you just disappear the inconvenient parts of you…

You’ll be rewarded with love.

But love that demands your silence isn’t love.
It’s strategy.
It’s survival.
It’s spiritual erosion.

🔊 The Turning Point: I Went Quiet… and Heard Myself Again

At my lowest, I stopped talking to the world and started listening inward.
No phones. No social media. No external validation IV-drip.
Just silence.
Me, my breath, my journal, my God.

That’s when I realized:
I was never too much. I was just in rooms too small.

We’ve confused acceptance with access.
We think being let in means we’ve been chosen.
But sometimes being let in is just being used.
And if the cost of entry is your authenticity, that door’s not for you.

🧠 The Business Behind Your Insecurity

Let’s get brutally honest—this isn’t just cultural. It’s commercial.

There are entire industries built on the premise of your unworthiness:

Dating apps designed to keep you swiping, not connecting.
Wellness trends that prey on your body image while preaching “self-care.”
Filters that distort beauty standards under the guise of “fun.”
Influencers paid to convince you that confidence comes in a bottle, a brand, or a boyfriend.

But your worth isn’t a marketing angle.
And your healing doesn’t need to be monetized.

✊🏾 I Stopped Shrinking — and Real Ones Stepped Forward

The day I chose me — unapologetically, unfiltered, untrimmed — was the day I started meeting people who could actually see me.

No more performing.
No more apologizing.
No more romantic auditions for roles I didn’t write.

Because when you stop shrinking, the people who need the real you… finally find you.

And let me tell you:
The love that meets you in your fullness?
The connection that doesn’t flinch at your truth?
That’s sacred. That’s rare.
That’s real.

💬 Final Word — Read This When You Feel Like You’re “Too Much”

You were never meant to dilute yourself for proximity.
Not in love. Not in friendship. Not in business.

You were meant to own your space — not apologize for it.
To shine without shrinking.
To speak without softening your edges just to be heard.

So the next time the world tries to cash in on your insecurity, ask yourself:
Who profits when I doubt my worth?

And then remind yourself:

I don’t need to shrink to be chosen.
I am already worthy — full size, full voice, full soul.

📵💬 Log off. Look in.
The most powerful connection you’ll ever find is the one with yourself.

Written in stillness. Spoken in strength.
— Imawol Empressions

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Bonus Material Below This Line...

👑 “I Stopped Shrinking to Be Loved — And Found Real Connection”

Top 3 Pro Tips on Knowing Your Worth in a World That Profits Off Your Insecurities
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By Imawol Empressions

Let me tell you something most of us don't hear enough, and certainly not from the voices that claim to care for us:

Your insecurities are someone else’s paycheck.

Billions are made when you doubt yourself.
When you shrink yourself.
When you forget who you are — and what you deserve.

Now I’m not here to just call it out.
I’m here to hand you the mic, the mirror, and the moment to remember your power.

Because I didn’t just write this as a journalist — I lived it.
And once I stopped shrinking to be loved…
I finally got real love.
Not the performance. Not the proximity. Not the praise.
The connection.

So here’s my Top 3 Pro Tips — not recycled Instagram affirmations, but real tools that helped me stop playing small in a system that banks on it.

🔑 1. Take Space Without Shame

"Alone" isn’t punishment — it's preparation.

You don't have to fill every silence with someone else's noise.
You don’t have to “stay in the mix” to stay valuable.
And you definitely don’t have to chase attention to prove you’re enough.

Being alone doesn’t mean you’re unloved —
It means you’ve finally stepped away from the auction block.

You deserve a version of love that doesn’t demand you shrink your needs, your voice, your light.

So give yourself space.
Real space.
To breathe.
To learn what you actually want.
To stop craving relationships that look good online but leave you starving in private.

Because when you finally sit with your own presence, you learn:

I don’t need a crowd to feel chosen. I just need me to stop abandoning myself.

🔥 2. Stop Taking Advice From People Who Don't Even Like Themselves

Let’s just be real.

Some of the loudest voices in your ear wouldn’t know self-worth if it hit them in the face.
They’re exhausted, unhealed, approval-chasing messengers — and they’re giving you roadmaps from places they’ve never actually healed from.

Look at your circle.
The people speaking into your life — do they speak from scars or from wisdom?
From love or from fear?

If their advice keeps you small, confused, or performing — that’s not guidance. That’s projection.

Start listening to someone who has your best interest in mind — you.
Your higher voice.
The wiser, clearer part of you that doesn’t scream — it whispers.

And when you hear it say “This isn’t love…” or “You deserve more…”

Listen.

❤️ **3. Don’t Show Love — Become It**

We’ve got this backwards.

We’re out here trying to show love, prove love, earn love — without ever truly understanding it.

Before I knew my worth, I thought love was performance.
Be easy. Be pretty. Be cool. Be quiet. Be convenient.

But when I finally learned what love really was —
Patience. Safety. Integrity. Softness.
I stopped trying to give it away like a business card.

And instead, I became it.

Don’t perform love for someone who doesn’t even know how to receive it.
Become love — and let them rise to meet you or fall off respectfully.

Because when you become love, you don't need to beg for it.
It flows through you, around you, to you — naturally.

And that’s the kind of connection that can’t be bought, forced, or faked.

🫶🏾 Final Word — Your Worth Was Never Up for Debate

This world will keep trying to sell you a smaller version of yourself.
A version that’s more likable, more palatable, more brandable.

But you don’t owe this world your silence.
You don’t owe anybody your shrinking.
What you do owe yourself — is truth.
Love. Space. Voice. Healing. Integrity.

So remember:

You weren’t made to be liked. You were made to be known.
And that can only happen when you stop hiding.

👑💃🏾📵💬
Love always — and be kind to yourselves.
— Imawol Empressions

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