If you're pressing play,
You're likely here because the volume is too loud,
The constant nagging demand to know what your life is about,
What your purpose is,
What the next big move is,
It's cutting you up inside.
So let's cut through the noise for a second.
This isn't about finding some golden ticket in the next 20 minutes,
This is about putting down the baggage for a while.
So find your spot,
On your commute,
Drinking your coffee,
Laying in bed,
It doesn't matter.
Just commit to being fully present where you are.
Feel the contact points,
If you're sitting,
Feel your butt settle into the seat,
Feel the steady weight of your feet on the ground,
If you're lying down,
Feel the ground,
The mat or the mattress claiming the full,
Honest weight of your back.
Get real with the physical,
Your body is the only thing guaranteed to be here right now,
And your body doesn't lie.
Let's take one big breath in like you're sucking the oxygen out of a rough morning,
In through your nose,
Hold it,
And let it out with a sigh,
Just two more like that,
Inhale,
Sucking in the reality of this moment and exhale,
Dumping the noise,
This is your anchor,
Right here,
Right now.
Now let's do a quick scan of the damage,
Where are you holding the anxiety about not knowing the answers?
Start at your jaw,
Is it clenched?
Are you biting down on the confusion of the future?
Gently let it slacken,
No need to look tough right now,
Move down to your shoulders,
Are they riding up towards your ears,
Carrying the invisible weight of the world's expectations?
Drop them two inches,
That's the most important work you'll do today,
Finally your gut,
The knot of fear,
The anxiety that tightens your stomach when you think of the grand unknown future,
Take a breath right into that knot,
And as you exhale soften the front of your body,
Give yourself a reprieve.
The answers aren't your tension,
They're in your release,
I want you to listen now,
The world,
The social feeds,
The high achieving friends,
They all peddle the same lie,
You must know your purpose,
You must have the five year plan,
You must be building the empire and you must do it now.
This is the pressure cooker of false urgency,
It's the idea that if you don't figure it all out today,
You've somehow missed your window,
That lie is a corrosive poison,
Let's be savage with that expectation,
It's a prison designed by comparison.
You were handed a perfectly good life,
A messy,
Chaotic,
Beautiful thing and then someone told you,
You needed a god damn blueprint and a mission statement to justify it's existence.
Look at the weight you've internalised,
Let's name the thoughts,
I'm behind,
Everyone else is further along,
I'm wasting my time,
That feeling,
That's the stress of trying to solve a problem that is not even due on the calendar yet,
I'm giving you permission right now,
You do not have to know the answers about your life or purpose,
Not today,
Not this hour,
Maybe not this decade and that is perfectly okay,
In fact it's the most honest place you can be.
We have been conditioned to hate uncertainty,
We treat it like a weakness,
Like a failure of planning,
But where does growth actually happen,
It happens on the edges where the hope runs out.
Life isn't a fixed target,
It's a moving river,
If you lock yourself into one rigid purpose,
One five year plan,
You lose the ability to navigate when the river shifts.
The greatest grit isn't found in planning for certainty,
It's found in having the courage to be flexible.
Think about the most interesting person you know,
I guarantee their path was not a straight line,
It was jagged,
Messy series of pivots,
Failures and restarts,
Their purpose was revealed in the doing,
Not the planning,
So let's honour the unknown right now,
It is the raw material of possibility.
What if not knowing is actually your superpower,
It means you're not limited,
It means you're still capable of surprise,
Let the fear of the unknown pass through you,
You've survived everything else up to this moment,
You can handle this,
Your job is not to predict the ocean,
Your job is to sail the ship one mile at a time.
With all that raw honesty hanging in the air,
Let's try something radical,
Unclench your heart and your brain,
Imagine all those big overwhelming questions,
What is my calling,
Where will I be in five years,
Who am I supposed to be,
Imagine them as heavy stones that you've been carrying in a worn out backpack,
It's digging into your shoulders,
We're not throwing them away forever,
They're important,
We're just setting the backpack down at your feet,
You can pick it up later,
Rested and clear headed,
Inhale and as you exhale physically relax the muscles that hold the bag straps,
Your shoulders,
Your back,
Drop them,
Let the weight fall,
Release the pressure to perform your life,
This is where the compassion truly kicks in brother,
Sister,
Be vulnerable enough to admit not just with your mouth but with your whole settling body,
I don't know,
I'm doing the best I can right now and that's a massive relief,
Embrace the gap,
The space between the question and the missing answer,
It's not empty,
It's quiet,
It's where the real grit,
The quiet,
Enduring grit is forged,
The courage to show up anyway,
Without the definitive map,
Settle back into your breath,
Simple,
Uncomplicated,
There is no big abstract purpose you need to find,
There is only micro purpose,
Micro purpose is the next right action,
It's not a destiny,
It's a commitment to the moment,
Your micro purpose today might be to hydrate properly,
It might be to listen fully to your kid,
It might be to finish that one difficult email,
In this exact moment your micro purpose is to soften your gut and keep your feet on the ground,
You don't need a telescope to see your whole journey,
You just need a reliable flashlight for the next step,
Let the big,
Terrifying questions float up to the surface of your mind,
What if I fail,
What if I chose the wrong path,
Now with a raw,
Compassionate clarity,
Don't try to answer them,
Just whisper back the truth,
I don't know,
I am here,
I don't know,
I am here,
I don't know,
I am,
That's the truth of this moment,
Feel the freedom in that admission,
You're not giving up,
You're just accepting the limits of your current vision,
You're resting in the unanswered life,
And it is a powerful,
Honest and sufficient place to be,
Take a moment here to thank yourself for showing up,
It takes guts to sit down and face the silence,
Especially when your head is screaming about what you're not doing,
Now we transition back,
Don't rush it,
You're leaving the quiet,
But you're keeping the quiet honesty,
You don't need to exit this meditation with a sudden,
Brilliant idea for your next move,
You just need to exit with the intention of completing your next micro purpose,
You just need to exit with a little less pressure on your chest,
What's the next small,
Honest thing you need to do,
Just that,
And when you're ready,
Let your eyes open,
Don't leap up and grab the backpack of questions,
Just stand up,
Ground it,
The blueprint can wait,
The purpose reveals itself in the day to day grit,
Now go be honest with your day.
