How to Find Your Purpose Without a Life Plan
I spent most of my life thinking I was just one accomplishment away from figuring out my purpose on this planet. I just needed to do the things and voila, I would feel fulfilled. In that pursuit, I made many plans. Early on, I believed I could be a University of North Carolina basketball player. That quickly fizzled when I found out people could buy their way on to basketball teams in high school. I was a justice centered kid. That wasn’t going to work for me.
Next, I wanted to be a doctor. That felt like a noble cause and one worth spending my life pursuing. My mom, in true first-generation American form, also really liked the idea. She immediately invested in the places and education I might need to go down the path. For a woman who wouldn’t waste an extra 15 cents on ketchup most of the time, this was a big deal. She sent me to a pre-med summer camp where I found out that you can fail out of school at 7 different points. I did not like failure or standardized tests. Medical school was out of the question. I was 13 and I had already been through two dreams.
In the rest of the post, I reflect on how chasing purpose through plans started to fall apart—and what began to take its place instead, including...
how early dreams and “practical” paths slowly shaped a need for certainty (and why that never quite worked)
the moment I realized I didn’t even know what “enough” looked like for my life or work
what shifted when I stopped chasing accomplishments and started paying attention to what actually felt good
how purpose started to feel less like a destination—and more like a daily practice of knowing myself