Sometimes life tricks you into thinking your effort is the problem. You push harder, stay longer, stretch yourself thinner than you should, and yet the results never look like what you hoped for. You start wondering if you’re the weak link, if you’re not talented enough, not smart enough, not disciplined enough. But what if the issue isn’t you at all? What if you’re just standing in the wrong place?
There are environments that ask you to shrink before you even begin. Places where your ideas feel “too much,” where your kindness is mistaken for weakness, where your strengths go unnoticed because no one is looking in your direction. In those spaces, even your best effort feels like a drop in a bottomless bucket. You could give everything you have, and somehow it still feels like you’re failing. It’s not because you’re lacking. It’s because the soil was never meant for you to bloom in.
And then, there are the other kinds of places—the right ones—where something shifts the moment you walk in. You don’t have to prove your worth; it’s already recognized. Your energy is welcomed. Your strengths aren’t just tolerated; they’re valued. Here, even your smallest contributions feel meaningful. You can breathe deeper. You can think clearer. You feel seen without having to perform.
What’s wild is how subtle this difference can be. Two people can do the exact same thing—same talent, same effort, same heart—and in one environment they are ignored, while in another they’re celebrated. That’s not luck. That’s alignment.
Finding your place isn’t always about geography; sometimes it’s a room, a team, a relationship, a community, a calling. And often, you don’t realize you were in the wrong place until you finally experience the right one. The right place doesn’t demand perfection. It doesn’t keep score. It doesn’t dim your light. It does the opposite—it reminds you that your presence alone has value.
So if you’ve been fighting to be enough lately, maybe it’s time to pause and ask a harder question: Am I giving my best in the wrong place? Because effort shouldn’t feel like drowning. Growth shouldn’t feel like punishment. And being appreciated shouldn’t feel like a miracle.
You deserve to be somewhere that recognizes you without making you beg for it. Somewhere your gifts are obvious, your voice matters, and your existence is met with, “We’re glad you’re here.”
Right place. Right people. Right soil.
And suddenly, without changing a single thing about yourself, you begin to bloom.
Kenrick Vaz 