You Are Not a Machine: Why Your Worth Isn’t Tied to Productivity

 

Not everyone wants to be a cog in your machine.

Not a Drain. Not a Machine. Just Human.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how deeply we’ve been conditioned to believe that our worth is tied to our ability to work.

Not to create.
Not to rest.
Not to simply exist.
But to work.

To grind.
To hustle.
To exhaust ourselves for someone else’s gain—and if we’re lucky, maybe get a pat on the back or a paycheck just big enough to survive another month.

We’ve been told that if you’re not getting up every day and clocking into something that serves someone else’s bottom line, you’re lazy. Useless. A drain on society.

But what about creators?

Artists, musicians, poets, writers—people who pour their entire heart and soul into something beautiful and meaningful. Sometimes they’re celebrated. But often, they’re overlooked if their work doesn’t bring in dollars. And yet… they create joy, connection, and reflection in a world that desperately needs it.

What about farmers who don’t sell to corporations but grow food for their families and neighbors? They may not be turning a profit, but they’re keeping people fed with their hands in the soil and their hearts rooted in tradition.

And what about people living with mental illness, trauma, or executive functioning disorders—those who have never received the help they need, or who can’t afford it, or who were told to “just push through”?

Are they drains on society too?

Or have we just bought into a toxic system that values productivity over humanity?

Here’s the real question:
Who gets to decide who’s “valuable” and who isn’t?
Who decided that you have to earn your right to exist by producing something?

And why are people even viewed as assets in the first place?

Why not just… people?
People who deserve rest.
People who deserve support.
People who deserve dignity and love—even when they’re not producing, performing, or profiting.

Maybe you’ve been made to feel like you’re falling behind. Like you’re not enough. Like you need to be doing more just to be worthy.

But hear me: You are not a machine. You are not a commodity. You are not a drain.

You’re a human being. And that alone is enough.

Something to sit with.