Why Does Excellence Become a Cage for Some of Us?

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Dear Lovely Human,

There are periods in my life when being excellent all the time felt like my superpower. I was the one who could be counted on, the one who solved the mess, delivered the impossible, held the line when everything around me wobbled.

People often said things like, “You’re amazing,” “You always pull it off,” “We don’t know what we’d do without you.” And for a long time, I let those words feed me. I thought they meant freedom.

But they became a cage. You see, the more capable you are, the more load people assume you can carry. And you risk not being celebrated for your gifts but expected to perform them. The gratitude softens, the demands harden and your value declines.

If you’ve ever felt the subtle exhaustion of being “the excellent one,” the reliable one, the one who gets things done even when you’re tired to the bone, then this week’s reflection is for you.

I have learned that the most courageous act for a high achiever isn’t doing more and being exceptional always. Excellence is a choice for people and moments who deserve it, instead of a cage we carry for everyone. Good enough is also perfectly ok for some people and things.

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 How do I broaden my Global Worldview? This month we explore Albania ( Part 4)

Elira’s final journey took her north toward Shkodër, a city where the mountains lean close and the lake shimmers like a silver coin tossed between Albania and Montenegro. But what drew her here wasn’t the landscape — it was the stories of the people coming back.

In a small café near the Venetian-style Rozafa Castle, she met Ariona, a woman in her early thirties who had lived for a decade in Italy. “Half of my childhood friends left Albania,” she said, stirring her macchiato. “But now many of us are returning — not because life abroad was bad, but because something is shifting here. We want to help build this place, not just remember it.”

All around the city, Elira saw signs of this quiet return. A young couple running a boutique guesthouse in a renovated stone home; a chef who had trained in Paris now serving modern Albanian cuisine infused with ancient northern herbs; a group of cyclists advocating for bike lanes along Lake Shkodër.

It wasn’t the dramatic rebirth of Tirana nor the historical charm of Berat — it was something far more intimate: Albania rediscovering its people, and its people rediscovering Albania.

Later that afternoon, Elira joined a group walking across the Mes Bridge, an elegant Ottoman relic stretching over the Kir River. Children splashed below, and a drone buzzed overhead — filming a tourism video for a country that once feared being seen. Albania today wants the world to look, not out of insecurity, but out of pride.

As evening settled, she cycled the new lakeside path, watching flocks of birds cut across the sky. The place felt like a threshold — between departure and return, between old patterns and new ambitions.

Albania, she realized, is not just growing; it is gathering itself — its talent, its diaspora, its confidence — calling back those who once left to help shape what comes next. The country is no longer defined by who went away, but by who is choosing to come home.

And as she looked out over the water, listening to conversations in accents from London, Rome, Zurich and New York — all unmistakably Albanian — she understood: this, too, is culture. A country writing its future through the people returning to build it.

🌿 If you visit Shkodër and the north:

• Rozafa Castle – panoramic views and ancient legends.

• Lake Shkodër Promenade – cafes, bike paths and sunset walks.

• Mes Bridge – one of Albania’s most beautiful Ottoman bridges.

• Marubi National Museum of Photography – iconic images of Albanian life across three centuries.

• Theth & Valbona Valley – some of Europe’s most spectacular alpine hikes.

• New artisan studios in Shkodër – leatherwork, silver filigree and handwoven textiles crafted by returnees revitalizing traditional trades.

Excellence feels heavy when it stops feeling like choice.

Not everything needs to be mastered.

You can outgrow the version of you that had to overperform.

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Your fans,
— Sal & the Gleac team

P.S. Meet some of the lovely humans in our Gleac community making waves around the world!