“Push yourself to be someone, and then someday you will be someone.”
-Super Bowl Kia Commercial
The annual Super Bowl gives companies willing to spend big money the chance to promote their brands to millions of viewers. In recent years, these creative and often hilarious ads have carried deeper messages. This year, Kia aired an ad suggesting that you are a “no one” until you work hard enough to “be someone.” As a therapist, that message grieved me. Each week, I meet with clients who struggle with anxiety and depression, trapped in the belief that their worth is tied to performance. They live under the pressure to achieve in order to be accepted—believing their anxiety and depression will disappear once they land the job, earn the degree, make more money, become the perfect parent, or stop making mistakes.
The true message that I wish I had the “big bucks” to advertise is that every person is important just because they are human, and no amount of striving can ever make your life matter more. You matter because you are alive. You matter because you belong. You matter because you are made in the image of a loving God.