From a young age, our whole lives are supposed to be figured out. We are supposed to be on some sort of track and have some sort of plan. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question that we have all been asked at least once in our lives, and it’s normally followed up with some sort of title. We answer that question by saying, “I want to be a doctor. I want to be a teacher. I want to be an astronaut.” We tell people what they want to hear, and we get caught up in the notion that once we graduate from college or turn a certain age, we have to automatically become something.

But what if instead of answering that question with another title, we simply answer it by saying, “I want to be happy.”

What if we tell that person that if our soul finds happiness, true happiness, we don’t have to become anything. Because the idea of having to know what you will become holds you back. It categorizes you and puts you in a tiny box, never allowing you to grow.

You do not owe anyone an answer.

You do not owe yourself an answer.

Nobody knows what the future will hold in a year, in a month, in a week, or even tomorrow. So that picture you painted when you were five, the one your kindergarten teacher asked you to paint, becomes the box that locks your potential.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set goals for yourself, because you should.

You should push yourself.

You should feel a spark and a hunger in your soul to be something more than you were yesterday.

But you do not start living when you draw your first breath, you start living when your soul finds happiness. You start living when you find your true purpose.