Somewhere along the way, we stopped being allowed to just be…

We started believing we had to earn our worth. To prove it, to polish it, to perfect it.

Maybe you’ve felt it too. That quiet pressure to present the best version of yourself. To always be achieving, improving, curating. To be liked, admired, accepted. And maybe, like me, you’ve started to wonder: what would it feel like to actually like yourself, without needing anyone else to?

That’s what this issue is about.

I’ve spent a lot of time untangling my sense of self-worth from outside approval, and I’m still in it, still learning. Still reminding myself that I don’t need to do more, be more, or look (or feel) a certain way to be valuable. And maybe you’re doing that too… relearning to love the unpolished, unfiltered, real version of yourself.

So in Issue 05, we’re slowing it all down. We’re questioning the noise. Not just around us, but inside us too. The pressure to keep up, to show up, to be seen.

Instead of playing to the algorithm, we’re tuning in to something quieter and truer, our own pace, our own peace.

We’re reclaiming our self-worth. Not as something to be earned, but something that’s already ours.

No likes required.

Nicole Fuge
Editor and Founder, Muse Paper