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Beyond "Not Being Read" Was "People." A Story About How Continuing on Note Turns Connections Into Stock 🌿

2026年7月7日 18:27

One night, after reading a comment, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen for a while.

It was from a senior note user named Hani-Hani.

They left this comment on an article I wrote a while ago, “I received a 15,000 yen sales offer from a company I didn't know, but I didn't accept it.” article.

To summarize, it went like this: Hani-Hani themselves had received a DM from a company for product PR, but couldn't bring themselves to accept it.
It just doesn't feel right to introduce a product I don't personally choose and use in my daily life to readers who support me, especially with half-hearted feelings.

Being chosen is a confidence booster and I'm grateful for it.
But I felt that my core as a creator would waver, and I thought that influencer-like activities weren't for me—they said.

On top of that, they added this:
“But I am very happy that you, kirinoha-san, caught the eye of a company as a creator.”

My heart warmed at this last sentence.

Someone who values the same “core” as I do is happy for my small experience as if it were their own.
There is no profit or loss, no hierarchy.
It's just someone standing on the same ground, rejoicing right next to me.

From there, a back-and-forth exchange continued in the comments section.

Talk about the stance of protecting one's core.
Talk about how I love reading and enjoy reading everyone's posts.
Talk about how I prefer to weave connections myself and interact with people who become deep connections, rather than just increasing followers.

In this single exchange, everything I most want to convey after continuing to use note was packed inside.

So today, I want to write about that.

I am an HSP and ISFJ in my 16th year as an occupational therapist, working as a functional training instructor at a special nursing home.
I have been practicing Adlerian psychology for 13 years and have been present at the end-of-life of nearly 100 people.
I usually write about end-of-life care, working as an HSP, and Adlerian psychology.

But today, I want to change the tone a little and talk about “continuing to interact with people in a place called note.”

And about how those very interactions actually accumulate as "assets."

🌑 I, too, was on the "not read" side at first

First, I will write from a place of honesty.

When I first started note, I had 0 followers and 0 comments.

In a dark room, I was just throwing out words that might never reach anyone.

Back then, I thought somewhere inside,
“If I just write good articles, someone will find them someday.”

However, the reality was not that sweet.

No matter how much heart you put into your writing, if you don't have a foundation for being seen in the first place, your articles will quietly sink without ever catching anyone's eye.

A while ago, I saw a post like this on Threads:
"On note, even if you write a masterpiece with all your might, it doesn't get read at all, does it? Thinking about that, I've lost the motivation to write."

That post gathered a lot of empathy.

In other words, this isn't just one person's lament.
Truly, many people writing on note are huddled in the same place, feeling the same way.

I was one of them, too.

That's why I can say for sure: "Not being read" is not because your words are bad.

It's just that you haven't built a foundation for being seen yet.

And the true identity of that foundation is—what I want to convey most today—"connections with people."

🚶 "If you write it, they will come" was an illusion. So, I took action myself.

Around the time I passed 1,000 followers, I realized it clearly.

For an ordinary person like me, who isn't famous, just writing silently will almost never lead to an increase in followers.

Not unless I take action myself.

From there, I changed how I moved.

I started going to read other people's articles myself.
I left comments where my heart was moved.
When I received a 'like,' I would go read that person's article and return the 'like.'

It's so plain it's anticlimactic.
It's not a technique to go viral, nor is it a secret trick.

But when you keep doing this, something strange happens.

"Relationships where you only receive numbers" change into "relationships where you care about each other."

I don't think a relationship where you only receive rewards is a good one.

Receiving likes. Being read.

If you just keep receiving that, before you know it, it becomes a one-way street.

That is why I also give back.
"I read your article, too." I tell them. Only then do I feel we can become equals, in a horizontal relationship.

🤝 The people who keep engaging with me

Here, I would like to write a little about personal matters. I really want to write this down.

There are people who have been engaging with me since the very beginning.

Nariko-sama. Kanbei Mk-I-sama. Polydolphin-sama. wireshop_vuvu-sama. PT Papa no Shiawase Note-sama.

They are the people who read my articles, gave them 'likes,' and left comments back when I had almost no followers and was throwing words into a dark room.

I cannot put into words how much each and every reaction during that time supported me.

And then, there are those who have started engaging deeply with me over the past month or so.

Fuji-sama. 💕Risa💕-sama. hydehyde-sama. canamin🍭-sama. Mokapon-sama. Marley-sama. Shizukana Sekkeisha-sama. Reimen-sama.

Furthermore, those I connected with very recently: Hani-Hani-sama, note no Tamako-sama, and Chai-sama.

——There are still so many more I cannot write down. It is not just the people listed here. Truly, countless people are engaging with me.

Honestly, it pains me that I cannot write every single person's name. But I have the same amount of gratitude for those whose names I did not list. I want to make this clear.

Why did I go out of my way to list their names?

It is not because I want to brag.

"Interactions with people become assets"—I could write that as an abstract theory.

But that would feel somewhat fake.

What I really want to convey is not logic, but the faces of each one of these individuals.

To me, the "assets" of note are not the follower count. They are the connections themselves with these people whose names and faces come to mind."assets"

🌿 Connections brought more connections

And just recently, I had an experience that made me realize, more clearly than ever, that connections become assets.

PT Papa's Happy Note introduced my article in their own post.

That alone made me jump for joy.
To have someone trust my words enough to share them with others.
There is no greater honor than this.

But there is more to the story.

Because of that introduction by PT Papa, I was able to connect with someone new named Mama Pharmacist HONO.

This is everything I want to say.

I have been steadily building a relationship with PT Papa.
One day, that relationship took the form of an introduction from PT Papa.

And that introduction brought me a brand new connection with Mama Pharmacist HONO.

One connection creates the next.

This is not something I could have planned.
I never even thought, "I want to connect with HONO."

I simply interacted sincerely with PT Papa right in front of me.
That accumulation of effort spontaneously branched out in unexpected directions.

🌳 Connections Become "Stock"

Here, I would like to talk a little about the characteristics of the note platform.

Posts on X and Instagram flow away and disappear in a few days.
They are what you call "flow-type" content.

However, note articles continue to be read for a long time after they are written.
They are often called "stock-type" assets.

The one piece you write today might suddenly pop up in someone's search a year from now.

I believe this concept of "stock" is not limited to just articles.

Connections with people also become stock.

一度、誠実に関わった人との信頼は、消えない。

すぐには何も起きなくても、静かに積み上がっていく。

そして、忘れた頃に、ふっと、思いがけない形で返ってくる。

PTパパ様が、HONO様を連れてきてくれたように。

Stock in the form of articles.
And stock in the form of connections.

A place where these two things accumulate together as a pair.
That is what note is to me.

Write a single article.

Interact with the people who read it.

Those interactions become trust.

Trust brings in the next reader.

Interact with that reader again—.

This cycle begins to turn, slowly but surely.

It is not flashy.

It does not get thousands of likes overnight.

But I believe this is the most resilient foundation.

🍀 Why continuing to interact is "fun"

Up to this point, it might have sounded a bit calculating.

Like, "If you interact, it becomes an asset."

But honestly, I am not interacting for profit or loss.

The biggest reason is simple.

It is fun.

The comment exchanges with Hani-Hani-san were like that, too.

We empathized with each other's stance on valuing one's core, nodded at our shared love for reading, and were impressed by how we weave connections.

That back-and-forth itself was simply fun.

Adlerian psychology considers the greatest source of human happiness to be "community feeling"—the realization that "I am connected to someone" and "I am useful to someone."

I have seen that firsthand in the field at the special nursing home for the elderly for a long time.

Until the very last moment, people live in connection with someone.

In solitude, people are not truly fulfilled.

Note is the same.

When I was writing alone in a dark room, honestly, it was painful.
But now, there are people who read what I write, people who give me feedback, and people I can exchange words with.

This feeling of being "connected" is the primary fuel that allows me to keep writing every day.

It's not for the numbers.

I want to engage more with these people.

I want to connect with even more people.

That feeling is what drives me.

Recently, the time I spend looking at Threads has gradually decreased.

It's because I wanted to place my time in a place where I can face each person individually, rather than a place where I chase numbers.

💰 And, beyond trust, there is revenue

Here, I also want to write about money without shying away from it.

I am currently thinking that I would like to gradually line up paid articles as well.

I also think that from now on, I want to connect and engage with many more people.

If I write it this way,"What, it's about money after all,"some people might think.

But I don't want to get the order wrong.

I do not"engage with people in order to earn money."Rather,
"as a result of engaging with people sincerely, revenue follows afterward."This order is critically important to me.

This order is, for me, decisively important.

Previously, I once received a PR offer for 15,000 yen per post from a company I didn't know.

It was, quietly, a high amount of money.

However, I turned it down.

The reason was that I had never used that service myself.

To recommend something I haven't even used just for the sake of a reward—

that would be an act of quietly mixing a lie into the trust I have with the people who believe in my words and read them.

For 15,000 yen, I couldn't do that.

I believe paid articles are exactly the same.

A paid article is something that only works when people think,“I want to read this person's words even if I have to pay for them.”

In other words, at the root of it is trust.

If this person, who has built up trust, says so.

They buy it because they think they can trust me.

That is why I have no intention of“forcing”paid articles on anyone.

I simply build up trust little by little through daily interactions. And, as an extension of that trust, I quietly place articles that people might think they want to read even if they have to pay for them.

Whether to buy or not is for the reader to decide. That is their task. All I can do is sincerely accumulate words that are worthy of trust.

In terms of Adler's“separation of tasks,”this can be clearly separated.

Building trust is my task. Whether to buy or not is the other person's task.

So, it would be a lie to say there is absolutely no part of me that is“aiming to capture”revenue. It is a fact that I will be lining up paid articles from here on out.

But at the foundation of that, there must always be“trust.”

Monetization without trust is like building a house on sand.

It will crumble immediately.

Interactions become trust. Trust settles into revenue.

This is the one order you must never reverse.

🌱 To you, who are about to start sharing

Finally, I have something I want to tell those who are about to start sharing something on note or social media.

If you are currently huddled up, thinking, "Even if I write, no one reads it," then listen.

The reason you aren't being read isn't because your words are bad.

It's just that you haven't built the foundation to be seen yet.

And that foundation isn't about flashy techniques.

It's about going out and reading the articles of people you think are great.

Leave a comment where your heart was moved. If you receive a 'like,' go back and return the favor.

It's a step so simple it might feel anticlimactic.

But that one step creates a connection with one person. That connection becomes trust.

Trust brings the next connection.

And all of those interactions will quietly and surely accumulate as your "assets."

Articles become stock.

Interactions also become stock.

If you can't stand up on your own, you can just stand side-by-side with someone else.

I myself have come this far because people like Nariko-sama, Kanbei Mk-I-sama, and PT Papa-sama stood beside me like that.

Now, I want to be the one to stand beside you as you are just starting out.

So, please, do not stop writing.

And please, summon the courage to reach out and engage with others yourself.

Your words and your connections will surely become your assets someday.

I want to be by your side and watch that happen.

Are you taking a step to "connect"with someone, rather than just writing articles?

Profile 🙋‍♂️

Occupational therapist in my 16th year | Working in special nursing homes/unit care | Former dementia care instructor | HSP/ISFJ | Playing tennis since junior high | Father of a 7-year-old daughter | Practicing Adlerian psychology for 13 years | Lost weight from 106kg to 77kg | After experiencing depression and social anxiety, I continue to share field-based insights on how I learned to live without medication.

📖 Book: "A Way of Working That Stays Kind and Doesn't Burn You Out" 🎧 Radio streaming now👇

A way of working for overly kind people that doesn't burn them out

Hashtags

#note #noteDailyUpdate #ConsistencyIsPower #OccupationalTherapist #HSP #AdlerianPsychology #CommunityFeeling #Sharing #Connection #Trust

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