Stop Hunting Purpose. Start Practicing It
A reflection on instinct, identity, and the human search for purpose
I love nature and the animal kingdom, a passion passed on to me by my father, a devoted admirer of animals. As a workaholic (and I mean that as a compliment), one of the ways we bonded was by watching National Geographic together. These days, we revisit Our Planet with David Attenborough. The last time we did, a question stuck with me:
How is it that animals are born knowing how to be?
A lion cub mimics its mother. A newborn elephant walks within hours, guided by a herd that instinctively knows what to do.
No school. No language. No performance reviews.
They just know.
Animals operate from instinct, and with it, purpose.
A salmon swims upstream to spawn and die without ever asking, "Is this what I’m meant to do?"
A sea turtle hatches and finds the ocean by moonlight, not by listening to a motivational podcast.
Ants follow signals. Elephants remember. Lions learn through play, then lead or follow naturally.
But humans?
We show up soft and unsure, unable to walk, eat, or speak.
And many of us spend the rest of our lives trying to figure it out.
We go to school, therapy, coaching.
We read Find Your Why.
We follow influencers promising clarity.
We compare. We pivot. We overthink.
And we all, at some point, ask: Why am I here?
So What Makes Us Different?
We weren’t built just to survive.
We were built to create, question, and imagine futures we haven’t seen yet.
That’s a blessing. And a curse
A lion acts. An elephant remembers.
But we?
We ask. We search. We reinvent.
Our prefrontal cortex won’t stop whispering questions like, "Am I enough?" or "What should I do with my life?"
Maybe It’s Not a Problem, Just a Different Process
What if purpose isn’t something we find, but something we build?
What if we stopped treating it like a destination and instead saw it as a practice? As a journey?
Purpose isn’t always a grand calling.
Sometimes, it’s small.
Showing up. Creating something new. Listening. Trying again.
We’ve been told that purpose should feel magnetic and obvious.
But what if it’s more like a photograph slowly developing in a darkroom?
You may not find your purpose.
You may shape it across different seasons and forms.
Less like a job title.
More like a relationship, ongoing, shifting, and deepening.
What Can We Do About It?
Follow what energizes you, not just what you’re good at.
Pay attention to what lights you up. That’s often where purpose begins to whisper.
Look backward to move forward.
Reflect on moments when you felt proud, useful, or alive. Those are your clues.
Create before you clarify.
Clarity often lives on the other side of action. Start before you feel ready.
Embrace the evolution.
Purpose changes. Growth reshapes both the question and the answer.
Redefine success as impact, not impression.
Ask yourself, "Who benefits when I show up fully?" That’s a better guide than applause.
Maybe purpose isn’t something we “find” once and for all.
Maybe it’s something we meet, in different forms, across different seasons.
Less like a job title. More like a relationship.
Ongoing.
Shifting.
Deepening.
The lion knows.
The bird builds.
The elephant remembers.
And we question, evolve, and grow.
It feels better to think about it as a journey rather than an answer on a test. We can now enjoy this ride we are on.
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