We are born into this world with nothing. We arrive naked and screaming, unburdened by expectation, untouched by the weight of promises. The world doesn’t pause to welcome us, nor does it lay out a path before our feet. We come as mere beings, with a breath, a heartbeat, and a fragile cry. We wake up each morning, and the sun rises; not for us, not because we have earned it, but because it’s there, steady and indifferent, like a clockwork promise we never made. The day begins, but we are entitled to nothing.
It’s a truth both exquisite and cruel that our existence begins in such stark simplicity. We are given no certainties, no guarantees, no roadmaps. But within this nothingness, there is an empowering notion: we are not given a purpose; we must find it. We are not granted greatness; we must build it. Life is a series of choices, and every day we shape it, both through big, decisive actions, and other times through small, everyday decisions. It’s in the space between our first breath and our last where we truly define who we are and what we leave behind.
Think about those who have risen from nothing, not because the world granted them favor, but because they refused to remain small. Look back through history and you’ll find their names etched into the annals of time. Not from money or power, but a testament to the sheer strength of will. Abraham Lincoln, born into the hard and unrelenting soil of rural poverty, whittled his future out of the harsh wood of adversity. With hands calloused from labor, he made a path to the presidency, shaping not just his own life but the fate of an entire nation. Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years confined in a cell, emerged not as a broken man, but as a beacon of hope, his spirit unyielding and vision of justice clearer than ever.
Frida Kahlo, who painted her pain onto canvases that would one day speak to millions. Through illness and heartbreak, she found a way to turn agony into art, making her struggles a universal language the world could understand. She didn’t wait for the world to grant her significance— she painted herself into it. These figures began with nothing more than the same breath of air you and I take each morning, yet they refused to be defined by their circumstances. They fought, not because they were assured of victory, but because they believed in the worth of the struggle.
There’s a certain beauty in being nothing. It is a freedom, a limitless expanse. When we are nothing, we aren’t bound by expectations or confined to a mold. We are unshaped, unformed, and within us lies the potential to become anything. The way we train our bodies, mold our minds, devote ourselves to a craft; the people we choose to love, the battles we dare to fight—all of it becomes the substance of who we are. We take the raw, unformed clay of our existence and shape it, piece by piece, into something real and something beautiful, something entirely our own.
Philosophers have long wrestled with the concept of nothingness, often positing it as the foundation of existence. Jean-Paul Sartre spoke of existence preceding essence—the idea that we are not born with a predetermined purpose, but rather we must forge our own path and define our own meaning. It’s a daunting thought that we are responsible for filling the void, that the universe doesn’t hand us a purpose but gives us the space to create one. However, there is empowerment in that realization. We are not constrained by a script— we are the very authors of everything we do.Â
The world is full of people who inherited wealth, power, and privilege, yet many of them find themselves empty or unfulfilled. For some, the tragedy lies not in having nothing, but in having everything and still feeling hollow. They were given everything the world said was valuable, but it still couldn’t fill the emptiness inside. And then there are those who began with nothing—who were born into obscurity, hardship, and darkness—and who used that very darkness as a way to fill it with love, with light, with hope. They didn’t have the means handed to them; they created them. They built their wings as they flew, making courage, resilience, and grit into something capable of carrying them across the impossible.
To make something of yourself is to stand in the face of the vast, indifferent universe and say, I exist. I matter. I will make this life count. It is to accept that you are nothing without your resilience, without your strength, without the sharpness of your mind and the warmth of your heart. It is to wake up each day, knowing that the world owes you nothing, but deciding to fight for everything. There is no light without darkness, no triumph without struggle, no song without silence. The most beautiful things in life are born from the hardest battles, from the moments when you are stripped down to nothing and must find the strength to build yourself back up.
We are the sum of our choices, actions, and dreams. We are the love we give, the kindness we show, and the resilience we summon in the face of adversity. We are the songs we sing in the dark, the light we carry into the world. We are not what we are born into; we are what we create, what we dare to become. By embracing the fact that you are nothing, it means you are free—free to define yourself, to paint your life with colors no one else can see, to carve out a legacy that is uniquely yours.
The world owes you nothing, and that realization is perhaps the most extraordinary truth of all. Because you are nothing, you possess the incredible power to create everything. You can transform the void into something rich with meaning and purpose, weaving love and dreams that stretch beyond the horizon, daring to touch the stars. So rise, even when the weight of the world feels like a relentless tide trying to pull you under. Stand tall, even when your legs tremble beneath the gravity of your ambition. Fight fiercely, even when the battle seems unwinnable, for it’s in those raw, unguarded moments—when you are stripped to your very essence—that you uncover the profound truth of who you truly are. Embrace that revelation, for within it lies a powerful truth: you are defined not by what you are given, but by what you choose to create, and it is through each and every one of your choices that you create the life you want to live.Â