What Happens When You Work Hard and Nothing Happens?

 

Have you ever found yourself asking, "What’s the point?"
Because you’ve worked hard, stayed consistent, followed every rule that promised results, and still, nothing?

So, it’s no surprise that I’ve been doubting myself lately.
All my life, I was taught that if I worked hard, I’d bear fruit. That consistency pays off. Eventually, if I just keep going, it’ll all work out in the end.

But is there truly an end to this madness?
How long should someone keep pushing before they begin to lose their mind?

I’ve often wondered if there’s a formula for madness.
Surely, there must be a measure for it, an equation that explains the tipping point between effort and exhaustion.
Now, I’m starting to understand why things take time to “tick,” to be “ticked off.”
Because if you keep doing something with no visible result… are you actually doing anything at all?

You start to feel like life is slipping away.
And you’re just there, watching it waste quietly, powerlessly.
You give up… not because you’re lazy, but by default.
Because there’s nothing to show for it.
You stop caring, not out of apathy, but out of fatigue.
Because deep down, you start believing it doesn’t matter.

But even in that numbness, you keep going.
You show up.
You create.
You try.
Because even if there's nothing to show for it, consolation in persistence feels better than the silence that would come if you gave up completely.

So I tell myself this:
As long as I’m still here, breathing, writing, trying—there must be some reason for the madness.

Maybe it’s not about bearing fruit in the way we were taught.
Maybe being the tree itself—still standing, still rooted—is the miracle.

And maybe, just maybe, someone out there needed to read this to realize… they’re not alone either.