I was chatting with a dear friend about how her life wasn’t “working.”
Or maybe it was about how much longer before her business finally “succeeded.”
I put that in quotes because the reality is, she already has a beautiful life, and a beautiful business. But somehow, it just wasn’t feeling like enough.
So I asked her: What’s the point?
Like, for you, what’s the actual point of life?
Because sometimes when we look around, it’s easy to think the point must be to win at life.
To do really well.
To be doing exactly what we want to be doing, all the time.
I can think of two people who seem to be doing that: Taylor Swift and the U.S. president. One turns her life into art. The other turns fear into profit.
Ridiculous examples, I know, but they make the question sting sharper: if I’m not living at that level of visibility, freedom, or impact (for better or for worse)… does my life still have a point?
And I want the answer to be yes.
Not a fake, spiritual-bypassy yes that pretends everything’s fine.
A real one.
A lived one.
I use those extreme examples because the amount of energy it takes to stay connected to our truth, to be present, to do what we love, to feel alive, is no small thing. Most of us never get to do that fully, because we’re too busy trying to fucking survive.
Meanwhile, we’re bombarded with highlight reels of what “success” is supposed to look like, and if it’s not that, we decide we’re failing.
This whole not-good-enoughness challenge that my friend was having, IS NOT HERS.
It’s ours.
It’s systemic.
So we have to stop with the victim-blaming bullshit we aim at ourselves.
The constant internal audit of whether we’re doing life “right.”
Yes, painful seasons come for all of us, and they hurt like a mofo. But that doesn’t mean it’s always your fault.
And compared to what, anyway? If the point is to become a pop star or a wanna-be dictator, maybe we need to reexamine our life choices.
For me, on a bad day, there is no point.
But most days, I remember what mine is, and it changes all the time.
Because the point isn’t to reach some mythical there.
It’s to keep choosing to be here.
To stay awake to your own aliveness, even when it hurts.
You are a gift to this world.
Even when you forget.
Even when it doesn’t feel like it.
Especially then.
Photo by Marcin Sajur on Unsplash