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Imagine waking up one morning, staring at the ceiling, and realizing Average Joe has been reduced to a number — a bank balance, a job title, a few digits under the latest post.
In a society where only money is considered true wealth, those with power are respected, and criminals — whether caught or uncaught — are feared.
Caught between admiration for the rich and intimidation by the ruthless, Joe becomes lonelier and lonelier, measuring his own worth against the same cold scale.
It’s not that women don’t face similar struggles, but Joe’s world is different. Women, more often, can share their troubles openly and find company in their pain. Joe, on the other hand, lives in a code of silence. Among men, especially those like him — the so-called “average Joes” — admitting loss of value is seen as weakness.
So when Joe begins to feel his worth slipping, there is no counsel, no brotherhood to turn to.
He carries it alone. And that solitude grows heavier, pressing in until it feels like part of who he is.
And that label, average, can sting.
It isolates.
It whispers: You’re not enough.
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Who Is This “Average Joe”?
Joe could be the neighbor who works a steady job, pays the bills, and wonders why life feels like it’s slipping through his fingers.
The teacher who once shaped young minds but now goes unnoticed.
The retired engineer whose inventions once drew praise but now gather dust.
Joe scrolls through feeds full of exotic vacations, flashy cars, and curated smiles — and feels the quiet ache grow deeper.
In this game, if he’s not climbing, he’s falling. And Joe measures his worth by the same ruthless scale as those chasing the top.
Joe could be you, me, one in our friends....
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When Joe Stops Playing
What if, one day, Joe simply… opts out?
No more chasing the next promotion, the next round of applause.
Instead, he embraces the utterly ordinary.
In his prime, Joe was a high achiever — leading teams, winning awards, basking in bonuses. But as years pass, the spotlight fades. Colleagues move on. Family life shifts. Kids grow up, and his spouse has their own rhythms. His usefulness wanes.
To fill the void, Joe distracts himself:
• Gourmet meals that lose their thrill
• Endless shows that numb the emptiness
• Quiet resentment toward loved ones who no longer orbit around him
Pleasures come and go, but the loneliness stays.
Bitterness starts to bloom: Why me? After all I’ve done?
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The Hard Truth
In rare, unguarded moments, Joe admits something even harder to face:
He hasn’t just been lonely — he’s been unkind.
Short-tempered with his spouse.
Dismissive with his children.
Quick to judge friends who didn’t check in often enough.
Why?
Because deep down, Joe subscribed to the unspoken rule:
Worth comes from what you do, what you earn, and how others treat you.
When his career defined him, when praise and affection flowed his way, kindness came easily.
But as those external sources faded, his patience wore thin.
If no one made him feel valued, he saw no reason to offer warmth in return.
Love became conditional — a transaction, measured and withheld when he felt overlooked.
He realizes with a pang that his coldness at home wasn’t about them at all.
It was about him — chasing a form of worth that could never last.
Joe had been living as if affection was something to win, not something to give freely.
And in doing so, he had helped create the very isolation he resented.
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The Flower Moment
On a solitary walk one afternoon, Joe notices a flower.
It blooms under the sun, unfurls its petals without fanfare — no applause, no audience, no regrets.
The next day, on another walk, he passes the same spot.
The flower has wilted back into the soil — its entire life in just a day.
Something clicks.
Life isn’t about being seen or celebrated.
It’s about existing fully — in all its raw, unadorned beauty.
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The Unshakable Focus
After this revolution inside, something unexpected happens.
Joe begins to achieve far more than before. His work sharpens. His output grows.
He earns more money — sometimes far more than in his so-called “prime.”
The difference? His focus is entirely on where he chooses to put his mind and energy.
It no longer matters whether anyone recognizes his achievements.
If they praise, fine.
If they don’t, equally fine.
His satisfaction comes from the doing itself, not the applause that may or may not follow.
Freed from the need for validation, he becomes unstoppable.
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Letting Go Without Giving Up
Joe strips away the extras:
• Eats simply, for nourishment, not indulgence
• Finds solace in silence, not in constant company
• Loves family without needing them to fill his emptiness
Resentment dissolves.
He loves more deeply now, not for what people give him, but for who they are — flawed, evolving beings, just like him.
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A New Orbit
In time, Joe notices his family turning back toward him.
They begin to orbit around him again — still valuing his achievements, still impressed when he accomplishes more — but also responding to the steady affection and simplicity he now lives by.
Joe begins to see their limitations too, how they still place worth in external measures.
But instead of lecturing them on what to change, he looks for ways to inspire.
Through his actions with his children and his wife, he shows rather than tells — planting quiet seeds for their own shift.
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Profoundly Ordinary
Joe is no longer “average” in the dismissive sense.
He is profoundly ordinary — and that’s his superpower.
He volunteers at a shelter without posting it online.
Shares stories with his kids and others alike to connect, not impress.
These acts ripple outward — a friend slows down to watch a sunset, a family member questions their own relentless hustle.
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The Ones Who Make It
Not every Joe reaches this place.
Some sink deeper into isolation, bitterness hardening like a shell.
But those who do?
They discover the extraordinary hidden in the everyday — the joy of a quiet cup of coffee, the warmth of a genuine smile, the peace of self-acceptance.
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The Deeper Truth
This letting go is not dependent on time — although it deepens with time.
It is dependent on the intensity of feeling the problem and the effects Joe created in his life by subscribing to the idea that all worth comes from external achievement.
Feel. Feel. Feel.
And all the Joes — all of humanity — can remove ourselves from the cocoon of external wealth, status, approval/praise by others - anything external disguised as significance.
We can drop its gluey web, and in the simplicity of nature and the freedom of being ordinary, go on to do even greater, extraordinary things.
Above all, we can understand that whatever we do will always be subpar when compared to the marvelous creation — nature itself — into which we were born.
