Tethers, Chapter 10: Purpose
"The Subject," portrayed by Astrid. (astrid.wild.ethereal, Instagram)
To live is to grow. To grow is to inevitably burst from the cage that once suited and comforted us. That cage may have comforted us for a time, but it will eventually reach a point where it no longer serves us. Purpose is restless, always expanding, always calling, and always driving us beyond the frame we once believed was the whole world. When the walls no longer fit, we learn that evolving our purpose and growing in pursuit of it is how we honor who we are becoming.
No more relying on assured methods, anchored in yesterday's ideas of absolute wisdom. They’re wristbands from our younger selves that have grown tight, choking our hands until they turn blue and forcing us to admit they no longer fit. These methods no longer work because they were designed for earlier missions. Meanwhile, we’ve changed. We aspire to more, greater, and new.
It’s a terrifying realization when something that has worked for so long and achieved so much suddenly stops working. At first, the failure is quiet; maybe it’s a fluke, a one-off. But then it happens again and again. After spending so long doing what once fulfilled you, you’re forced to consider that fulfillment may have changed shape for you. The code isn’t cracked anymore. You have to figure out what makes you tick all over again. Maybe that means a subtle pivot, or a complete change of direction. Either way, marching in the same direction to the same rhythm has grown stale. So we begin not by fixing what’s broken, but by first defining what’s broken. We are not broken–the routine is. Every day, people fall out of love with people, places, things, patterns, careers, and methods. We can only sustain ourselves with what’s familiar for so long when our very being depends on growth.
As we grow, our passions evolve—and the ways we fulfill them must evolve, too. We rediscover our purpose: the bigger reason we exist. We experiment, play with different rhythms, and notice what resonates, finding new ways to feel fulfilled and serve our expanded purpose. As a result, our motivation and sense of self expand, transforming our purpose from a constraint into an opportunity for self-discovery. Understanding our identity and life’s direction is a continuous, evolving process. While certain aspects remain constant, adaptation is essential.
Purpose isn’t a distant object, but an ever-moving horizon we pursue. When the methods we’ve developed to fulfill it begin to fail, that doesn’t mean we’ve reached our end. The four walls that have grown too small, the wristband that has become too tight as we grow—these are signs that it’s time to rediscover ourselves. The parts of ourselves we’ve grown accustomed to haven’t failed us; they’ve helped shape who we are now. And through those experiences, we can grow into who we’re meant to be. The final gift our familiar methods offer as we pursue our purpose is the reminder that we—and our purpose—have outgrown them. And so, renewed, we pursue our purpose anew.
