<p>In a small, worn down house nestled between rows of modest brick homes, Tayo learned early how to hold things together. At first, they were simple things like balancing a bowl on the table so it didn’t spill when his baby sister flailed, catching his father’s fallen wallet before it hit the floor, plugging the leaky pipe with an old rag until help arrived. Little things. The kinds that feel heroic to a child. But over time, those small acts grew heavier. By the age of ten, he was his mother’s second spine, standing tall when she bent over the bills with tired eyes. By fourteen, he was his father’s echo nodding silently when unspoken regrets weighed down the room like fog. His siblings looked up to him not just with admiration, but expectation. He was the answer key to every unknown, the flashlight during every blackout.<br></p><p>“You’re the eldest,” they said, as if it explained everything. And in some tragic way, it did. The world didn’t offer Tayo the luxury of softness. When emotions pressed against his chest, he swallowed them like stones. His tears were privately rationed, shed only behind locked bathroom doors, dissolved before they could reach the sink. Vulnerability was an unpaid debt he could never afford. Everyone leaned on him because he never leaned on anyone. He became fluent in silence. Mastered the art of the strong nod, the reassuring shoulder, the “I’m fine” smile. He learned how to listen so well that people mistook it for peace. But inside, his own voice faded, replaced by echoes of what others needed. College came and went, a blur of sleepless nights and internal wars. He took a job that paid well, not because he loved it, but because it made life easier for everyone else. When his sister called him at 2a.m crying about her boyfriend, he stayed on the phone until sunrise, never once mentioning his own heartache. When his father had a health scare, Tayo flew home that same night, calm as stone, steady as the sun.</p><p>But no one asked if he was okay.</p><p>No one thought he needed asking.</p><p>Because he was okay. He had to be.<br></p><p>Until he wasn’t.</p><p>One day, Tayo sat alone in his apartment, the silence no longer peaceful but pressing, suffocating. He looked around at the photos on the wall, the untouched dinner on the counter and realized he didn’t remember the last time someone asked him how he was. He couldn’t even remember the last time he asked himself. His strength had become a prison. His shoulders a home for everyone’s storms, but no one had ever offered an umbrella for his own. He broke quietly. No loud cries. No dramatic collapse. Just a slow, surrendering exhale as he allowed himself for the first time to not be okay. And in that moment, something unspoken cracked. Not in him, but around him. Because sometimes the strongest don’t need saving.</p><p>THEY JUST NEED PERMISSION TO FALL.</p>
At the end of each month, we give out cash prizes to 5 people with the best insights in the past month
as well as coupon points to 15 people who didn't make the top 5, but shared high-quality content.
The winners are NOT picked from the leaderboards/rankings, we choose winners based on the quality, originality
and insightfulness of their content.
Here are a few other things to know
1
Quality over Quantity — You stand a higher chance of winning by publishing a few really good insights across the entire month,
rather than a lot of low-quality, spammy posts.
2
Share original, authentic, and engaging content that clearly reflects your voice, thoughts, and opinions.
3
Avoid using AI to generate content—use it instead to correct grammar, improve flow, enhance structure, and boost clarity.
4
Explore audio content—high-quality audio insights can significantly boost your chances of standing out.
5
Use eye-catching cover images—if your content doesn't attract attention, it's less likely to be read or engaged with.
6
Share your content in your social circles to build engagement around it.
Contributor Rankings
The Contributor Rankings shows the Top 20 Contributors on TwoCents a monthly and all-time basis.
The all-time ranking is based on the Contributor Score, which is a measure of all the engagement and exposure a contributor's content receives.
The monthly score sums the score on all your insights in the past 30 days. The monthly and all-time scores are calcuated DIFFERENTLY.
This page also shows the top engagers on TwoCents — these are community members that have engaged the most with other user's content.
Contributor Score
Here is a list of metrics that are used to calcuate your contributor score, arranged from
the metric with the highest weighting, to the one with the lowest weighting.
4
Comments (excluding replies)
5
Upvotes
6
Views
1
Number of insights published
2
Subscriptions received
3
Tips received
Below is a list of badges on TwoCents and their designations.
Comments