I think we’ve made purpose way too complicated.
Somewhere along the way, purpose became another thing we’re supposed to achieve.
Another benchmark.
Another milestone.
Another invisible finish line we’re all racing toward.
And the result?
A lot of really good people walking around feeling like they’re failing at life.
They’re successful on paper.
They’ve checked the boxes.
They’ve built careers.
Raised families.
Created businesses.
Accumulated accomplishments.
And yet there’s this nagging feeling underneath it all:
“Am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing?”
“What if I’m missing my purpose?”
“What if everyone else figured it out and I didn’t?”
I’ve watched people torture themselves with these questions.
I’ve done it myself.
The funny thing is that most people aren’t actually missing their purpose.
They’re just measuring themselves against someone else’s definition of it.
Social media doesn’t help.
You open your phone and it looks like everyone has found their calling.
Everyone seems certain.
Everyone seems aligned.
Everyone seems to know exactly where they’re going.
Meanwhile you’re sitting there wondering whether you’re behind.
Whether you missed something.
Whether there’s a secret everyone else got access to except you.
But here’s what I’ve learned:
Most people aren’t comparing themselves to reality.
They’re comparing themselves to a performance.
A highlight reel.
A polished version of someone else’s life.
And when you compare your internal experience to someone else’s external presentation, you’ll lose every time.
The pressure to “find your purpose” can become so overwhelming that it actually disconnects you from yourself.
You stop listening to your own desires.
You stop trusting your own instincts.
You stop paying attention to what naturally lights you up.
Instead, you start looking outside yourself for answers.
For experts.
For systems.
For certainty.
And all the while, the very thing you’re searching for is sitting quietly inside you.
Waiting.
I don’t think purpose is a destination.
I don’t think it’s one job.
One business.
One relationship.
One thing you’re supposed to discover before time runs out.
I think purpose is expressed through being fully yourself.
Through honoring what genuinely matters to you.
Through following what calls to you.
Through living in alignment with your own nature instead of constantly trying to become someone else.
And maybe that’s why so many people feel exhausted.
They’re not failing to find their purpose.
They’re working incredibly hard to become someone they’re not.
That creates a kind of burnout no vacation can fix.
Because the exhaustion isn’t coming from doing too much.
It’s coming from being disconnected from yourself.
What if you stopped trying to figure out your purpose?
What if you stopped treating it like a problem to solve?
What if you stopped assuming you’re behind?
What if the answer isn’t hidden?
What if it’s already showing up in the things you care about, the things you’re drawn to, and the life that’s trying to emerge through you?
Maybe you’re not missing your purpose at all.
Maybe you’re just being invited to trust yourself more than you’ve been taught to.
And maybe that’s been the path all along.
💜 Abi