the way out of feeling less
Sep 23, 2026
The Way Out of Feeling Less
I’m an extrovert. I love people. I’m energized by being around them.
But I’ve noticed something about myself.
When I’m not feeling good about my own progress, I can get off my game. I become more self-conscious. More comparative. More aware of what I’m not doing, where I’m not winning, and who seems to be doing better than me.
And unfortunately, that can turn toward other people.
I can become more critical. More judgmental. Less curious. Instead of seeing someone, I’m evaluating them.
I wish I could tell you I’ve figured this out. I haven’t. But I’m getting better at recognizing when it’s happening.
Recently, Joshua Hornick put words to something I’ve experienced but couldn’t quite articulate. In his book Bringing the Best Out of Others, he writes about awe—that sense of wonder we experience when we become fully aware of the miracle right in front of us.
Drawing from psychologist Dacher Keltner’s work, Hornick points to “moral beauty” as one of the great sources of awe: seeing the kindness, courage, love, and possibility in another human being.
That stopped me.
Because maybe the way out of feeling less about ourselves is to feel more about others.
And maybe it starts even deeper than that.
What if we started seeing people as miracles?
Not projects. Not competitors. Not annoyances. Not people to size up, categorize, impress, or compare ourselves to.
Miracles.
Because when you see someone as a miracle, you naturally begin to wonder what might be possible for them.
Think about someone you completely misjudged.
You judged the book by its cover. You made assumptions. You decided who they were before you really knew them.
And you could not have been more wrong.
What did you almost miss?
The miracle standing right in front of you.
I experienced this powerfully in Mozambique. There were moments when my awe and wonder were maxed out. I met people whose circumstances were incredibly difficult, yet their faith, generosity, resilience, joy, and love humbled me.
I wasn’t comparing.
I wasn’t evaluating.
I was simply seeing.
And when I truly saw them, something happened inside me.
Hornick makes a fascinating point: when we choose to see the possibility in another person, we may actually receive the greater gift. They receive encouragement. They experience someone believing in them and seeing possibilities they may not yet see in themselves.
We receive awe.
Maybe that’s why self-consumption is so exhausting. When my eyes are constantly turned inward—How am I doing? How do I look? Am I succeeding? What do they think of me?—my world gets incredibly small.
But when I become curious about the person in front of me, the world gets bigger again.
So here’s my challenge this week:
Look again.
Especially at the person you’ve already made up your mind about.
See them as a miracle.
And if they are a miracle, what might be possible for them?
More courage than you can currently see. More goodness. More growth. More potential. More of God’s handiwork than you ever imagined.
Maybe we need to stop deciding who people are based on who they appear to be today.
See the miracle. Then see the possibilities.
Because if we truly begin seeing people as miracles, perhaps we’ll stop putting limits on what they can become.
And you might just discover that the way out of feeling less about yourself…
is seeing the miracle—and the endless possibilities—in someone else.
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