Picture this: you’re scrolling through social media, and your feed is absolutely packed with content telling you to focus on yourself.
You see endless videos about maximizing your personal potential, protecting your peace, and curating your perfect aesthetic.
It’s all about protecting your own vibe.
So let’s be brutally honest. It feels comforting to be the center of your own universe because it feels like control.
But here is the catch: when you are the absolute center of your own universe, your world gets incredibly small, incredibly fast.
And the irony is while we think this gives us more control, when our world is that small, and it’s centered around ourselves, the anxiety of making mistakes actually feels way scarier. Because our peace and hope is completely dependent on us.
So let’s zoom out. As you look ahead to this next season, are you showing up ready to engage with the world, or are you hoping to find a place where you can be the main character?
Maybe you’ve bought into the cultural expectation that your primary job in adulthood is to make sure your needs are met, your rights are protected, and your goals are achieved.
But often, the fast-paced, independent environment of life after high school can expose a harsh reality: a life lived entirely for yourself is deeply unfulfilling.
The final core value in our series is a beautiful, radical flip of the script on our self-absorbed culture: Be a Blessing.
Moving the Spotlight
Here is the ultimate plot twist of adulthood: chasing your own satisfaction will always leave you empty. True fulfillment only happens when you start investing in others.
It is incredibly easy to feel like people are background characters in the movie of our lives.
We measure relationships by how they make us feel or what they can do for us.
That may sound really harsh or calloused, but if you look around you’ll notice it’s often how the majority of people live their lives.
But a follower of Jesus is called to an entirely different posture. We are called to cultivate a heart of service and hospitality.
Hospitality isn’t about having a perfectly decorated house; it’s about creating space in your life for other people to feel seen, valued, and safe.
The New Testament challenges us to look past our own mirrors.
Consider the blunt instructions from the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:3-4:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Yikes… that hits right at the core of our “me-first” default settings.
Imagine how much our friend groups, our families, and our communities would change if we actually lived that out.
As Galatians 6:10 reminds us, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people…”
Being a blessing means you stop waiting for people to serve you, and you start actively hunting for opportunities to serve them.
Leaving a Legacy that Matters
So, what does it look like to be a blessing in daily life?
It means intentionally choosing to look up from your phone and notice the needs of the actual human beings standing right in front of you.
It means dropping the main character mindset.
It also looks like….
- Noticing someone sitting alone at lunch and pulling up a chair.
- Giving up your free evening to help a peer study for a test they are stressing over.
- Using your words to build people up and speak life into them, rather than joining in on the gossip.
When you consistently practice living generously (even in small ways), your perspective on life completely changes.
You stop stressing over your own curated perfection, and you start experiencing the deep, unshakeable joy that comes from being the hands and feet of Jesus to a world that desperately needs it.
Remember how I said at the beginning that focusing on ourselves actually increases our anxiety? A crazy by-product expanding our world by being a blessing to others is it often decreases our anxieties and fears.
The Big Picture
“Ok sure Lauren, but what about when I’m completely drained?
When you are actively tracking God’s goodness in your own life, you stop viewing your time and energy through a lens of scarcity.
…or my schedule is jam packed?
…or my room is messy and I’m overstimulated?
…or that girl in my class is testing my patience…every…single…day?”
Trust me I know. This is where things get real.
Choosing to serve someone else when you are running on empty forces you to step out of your comfort zone. It forces you to realize that your convenience isn’t the most important thing in the room.
And honestly, you can’t pull that off without a deeply rooted sense of gratitude.
When you are actively tracking God’s goodness in your own life, you stop viewing your time and energy through a lens of scarcity. You don’t feel the need to hoard your energy because you trust that God will keep supplying what you need.
Ready to change the narrative?
The truth is, the world doesn’t need more people who are just hyper-focused on their own personal brand.
It needs people who are ready to build something that lasts.
At OneLife, our entire gap year program is built around launching you into a life of purpose. We aren’t here to help you build a safe bubble—we’re here to help you build a launchpad.
If you are ready to drop the self-care screen, discover your true vocation, and learn how to show up for others, we want to help you get there.
Your next chapter starts right now. Apply for free today.
Values Series – #6: Be a Blessing
Check out our past Values Series posts:
#2: Connecting Belief to Behavior