When Your "Purpose" Isn't Finding You...

Last week, I shared how being in Santa Barbara has given me time to reflect. And in that quiet, I’ve had to admit something: I’ve been missing purpose.

It's almost as if the tide keeps washing my purpose away!

When I was in Paris and finally starting to feel settled, I tried to fill that space. I picked up sewing again. I joined a book club. I thought those things would ground me, but none of them seemed to land the way I hoped. And now, with more stillness around me, I realize just how much not having that sense of purpose has been affecting me.

The truth is, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to reinvent purpose for myself. I’ve found it before in jewelry making, in hosting a dinner club, even in caring for my sweet Jackie. Each season of life asks something different of us, and I’ve always managed to find something that lights me up.

But here’s the question I keep circling: what do you do when you know how to find purpose… but it isn’t finding you?

I don’t have a tidy answer yet. Maybe you’ve been here too — retired, or past one chapter, already tried a project or two, and wondering why you’re still restless. If that’s you, I want you to know you’re not alone. I think this is part of the process — the uncomfortable in-between where we keep searching, and in the meantime, keep living.

I’m trusting that purpose will show up again, maybe in a form I don’t expect. And until then, I’m trying to give myself grace.

🤍, Lois