People are always looking for ways to “be more productive”. They want to do more, take on more, “keep themselves busy” all in the chase to feel like they are “enough”.

“Where does this pressure come from?”

For years, we have been inundated with the idea that who we are is synonymous with what we do and achieve. Self-care has been deemed a luxury. Time-off feels preposterous. And working to the state of burnout in whatever role we are in often becomes us — scheduling our lives to the point that spontaneity becomes anxiety-provoking and rather than checking in with how we feel that day or what seems reasonable to expect from ourselves, we stay focused on the “plan” so that we don’t “get behind”.

Over time, this pressure overtakes our vision and goals. We lose sight of our “why” — the purpose behind the “what” — and become so bogged down with getting shit done that we forget to ask ourselves how it all fits in with who we are and where we want to go in life.

For many of us, we are stuck in a cycle of doing. We get up, we follow whatever routine or to-do list awaits us and work towards goals we never really took time to define or connect to.

We become a product of our “what” and “how” without connecting to the “why” that guides us. And without that connection, we simply become cogs in a wheel of stagnation and conformity. We graduate high school, go to college, get ‘X’ job, find a partner, get a house, work, make money, pay off debt…and continue on the hamster wheel of the “predictable human existence”. That was the momentum that described my life perfectly for over a decade.