Burnout or Awakening? What They Never Told Us About ‘Purpose’

They told us to find our purpose, like it was waiting for us somewhere, quiet and patient, just outside the noise.

They made it sound simple. Follow your passion. Serve something bigger. Give your life to meaning.

But they forgot to mention something.

Sometimes, purpose can become a prison.

Not with bars, but with expectations.

Not with chains, but with applause.

They never told us that purpose can turn against you.

That the very thing that once made you feel alive can, slowly and without warning, start to hollow you out.

I used to think burnout meant doing too much. Now I understand that it’s something deeper, something far more intimate.

Burnout is what happens when your soul starts whispering that it’s tired of pretending.

Tired of smiling while shrinking.

Tired of showing up for causes that no longer show up for you.

Wearing Purpose Like It’s Proof

From the outside, it looked perfect.

International recognition. Global panels. Rooms full of people who believed in change.

I was walking purpose. Living it. Becoming it.

But something was quietly cracking beneath the surface.

When people see you as a symbol of hope, they forget you’re still figuring it out yourself.

They need you to be steady, certain, composed.

So you play the part, because you care.

You say yes, even when your body is begging for pause.

You speak when what you really need is silence.

And the most dangerous part?

You start to confuse all of that for love.

You call it impact. You tell yourself this is what leadership looks like.

You convince yourself that exhaustion is noble. That burning out is just part of the deal.

But it’s not.

It’s not leadership.

It’s not sustainable.

And it’s not love.

When Purpose Begins to Fade

There was a moment, and I remember it clearly, when everything felt off.

I was standing in front of a group of young leaders, delivering a workshop I had designed with care.

They were present. They were listening. But I wasn’t.

My voice filled the room, but my spirit wasn’t there.

I wasn’t tired. I was absent.

And in that absence, I realized how far I had drifted from myself.

Purpose had become a performance.

And I had become a character in my own story.

No one warns you about this part.

The moment when the very thing that gave you meaning begins to drain it.

The moment you start wondering if it was all for them, or ever really for you.

Awakening Is Not Gentle

We think awakening is light and clarity.

But it begins in darkness. It begins in the confusion you don’t post about.

It arrives like a question you can’t ignore anymore.

It sounds like:

Why am I doing this?

Who am I doing it for?

And what is left of me when I’m not saving the world?

Awakening is not a new dream.

It’s the slow, painful death of the illusion that you were supposed to be everything for everyone.

It’s sitting with the discomfort.

Unlearning the performance.

Letting silence be the teacher.

Letting yourself rest, not as a reward, but as a right.

And from that stillness, something else begins to grow.

Not a louder purpose. A truer one.

One that doesn’t require your burnout to prove your value.

One that doesn’t punish your softness, or demand you keep showing up just because others can’t.

So Was It Burnout, Or Awakening?

In truth, it was both.

The burnout was the door.

The awakening was what I found on the other side.

I’m not the same.

I speak less. I question more. I allow space for uncertainty.

I no longer see purpose as a destination. I see it as a relationship, with myself, with my values, with the people I choose to serve without losing myself in the process.

So if you’re chasing purpose, I invite you to pause.

Ask if it’s making you whole, or just making you useful.

Ask if it allows you to rest. To feel. To change.

And most of all, ask if you’re still in it because it feeds you, or because it’s feeding on you.

Because what they never told us is this.

Purpose isn’t just about what you give.

It’s about who you’re allowed to become while giving it.

And anything that costs you your soul, no matter how beautiful it looks on paper, is not purpose.

It’s sacrifice without resurrection.

And that’s not why we were born.