You post a picture. You wait. You watch the number go up, or not. Your friend got 300 likes in an hour. You're at 12. And without even realizing it, a little voice tells you that you're worth less than her today.
That voice is lying.
You post a photo. You wait. You watch the number go up, or not. Your friend got 300 likes in an hour. You're at 12. And without even realizing it, a small voice tells you that you're worth less than her today.
That voice lies.
A like is just a number
A like says nothing about who you really are. It's a number generated by an algorithm. It decides who sees your photo, and when, without knowing you. It doesn't know that you helped your little sister with her homework yesterday. It doesn't know that you kept your cool instead of responding to someone who was looking for a fight. It knows nothing of your patience, your humor, or the way you truly listen to your friends when they're struggling.
Your true worth is built elsewhere. Far from screens. In moments that no one films.
What your faith tells you, when no one is watching
In Islam, your worth is never measured by what others see of you. It is measured by your intention, by your heart, by what you do when no one is watching. The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah does not look at your appearance. He looks at your hearts and your actions. Not your likes. Not your followers. Your hearts.
This means that the girl who prays alone in her room, without ever posting it on her story, has as much value before Allah as the one with thousands of followers. Perhaps even more, because she does it without needing anyone to know.
Why you feel empty even after a post that does well
Have you ever noticed this? Even when a publication gets a lot of attention, the good feeling doesn't last long. The emptiness quickly returns, and you start looking at your phone again, hoping for more. This is normal, it's even intentional. Likes are designed to keep you in this cycle, not to truly nourish you. Your worth cannot be filled with a number that changes with each post.
What truly nourishes you is knowing who you are without needing anyone else to confirm it.
Stop asking a number for permission
Next time a post doesn't perform as you wanted, remember: you are the same person, with the same value, before and after. The number changes. You, in what truly matters, do not change.
And what makes you feel valuable, outside of likes?
