"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
— Marianne Williamson
As human beings, each of us has unique potentials. Potential to create glorious buildings, magnificent bridges, to create powerful songs, art pieces that will move us.
To reach our potential, we have to start by discovering our calling, our sense of purpose. Some of us have been blessed with a sense of purpose since childhood. Some of us discover it later in our adulthood. But a lot of people haven't reached their potential, because they haven't discovered their calling yet.
How can we hear that calling, when we live in a world with tons of distractions, external stimulants. We are constantly exposed to external stimuli, whether it's the notifications, or the videos we watch on social media.
The problem with social media is that we're constantly exposed to other people's lives. Surrounded by endless routines, productivity hacks, and motivational content, our focus shifts from what we have to what we lack. We stop asking: what actually works for me? We might see a celebrity's house and feel a sudden wave of envy or greed. And yet, we don't stop to ask: do I even want that?
Whenever I am on social media, a part of me is always yearning for something that I know it won't make me happy. It is similar to the feeling I have when I go to a corner store and I am surrounded by bunch of shiny attractive objects that I don't need.
Every time we see someone else's life on social media, it gets harder and harder to hear the voice of our calling. Without a sense of direction, a why to live, we begin to feel haunted by the void, by the pain of not knowing what we're here for. So we frantically try to soothe the anxiety—scrolling, consuming, distracting ourselves from the discomfort.
When we finally drop our phones, when the noise fades and we're left alone with the silence—it can feel almost unbearable. As I am writing this, I can notice a strong urge to go look at my phone, which is in my bedroom. The distance is not far enough for me to feel discouraged.
It can be terrifying to realize our potential, to realize what we could've been doing all along. This unique potential can be discovered when we become aware of our calling, when we discover our why. A hundred years ago Nietzsche said;
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
So how do we find out what our why is, our calling? How can we get to experience that little fire that gets us out from our bed? James Hollis, a Jungian analyst, kindly encourages us to ask ourselves, what is it that wants to get through me to this world? We might not have the answer right away. We cannot discover our why, our purpose straight away and that can be frustrating.
But it all starts creating that space for that answer to blossom. A space without external stimuli, without any distractions. A space where you listen to your soul. And eventually the answer will come to us, as we start to spend more time by ourselves, as we start to tolerate the boredom and quietness, as we feel more connected to ourselves and as we have the courage to sit with the unknown, trusting that eventually, we will hear our calling.