Dear Aida,

There is a truth about the world that is easy to overlook when you are young,
but once you see it, you see it everywhere:

Status is the invisible trap beneath countless bad decisions.

It hides behind careers people don’t enjoy,
relationships that look good but feel wrong,
cities people move to for the image,
purchases made for admiration rather than use,
and lives that are built for display rather than meaning.

Status is powerful because it feels like validation —
a signal that you are “doing well,” “fitting in,” or “getting ahead.”

But status is a strange kind of nourishment:
the more you eat, the hungrier you become.