Meaning isn’t a treasure you dig up. It’s a meal you cook with whatever’s in the fridge.

Purpose is often imagined as something hidden that must be located, which turns it into a search you can fail. It behaves much more like assembly: you take the circumstances you actually have, the people near you, the skills you happen to possess, and make something with them. Nothing has to be ideal for the result to be nourishing.

Stop auditing your ingredients for whether they are the right ones. Take what is in front of you this week and put it to use: the job you have, the person who needs help, the hour that is free. Meaning is what shows up after you start.