09/11/2026
(1/2) A few weeks ago, my grandma sent me the book by Arthur Brooks, The Meaning of Your Life (Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness).
I’ve been reading and digesting and processing, thinking about the meaning of my life. And how for so many of us, there is an unspoken emptiness in our lives.
That emptiness has become louder over the last few years. Louder as I have ticked the boxes of things that others have labeled as what matters.
Despite that, I have continued to preach that I care more about who you are BE-ing, not what you are DO-ing. While I’ve said that it’s an easy stance to take that is only validated more strongly in a community where everyone is doing the same “cool” things, it is truthfully a hard stance to hold. When the world is dead-set on moving in one direction, and you are swimming in the other, it takes its toll on you. There have been countless times I have questioned my sanity, my standards, and my core values.
But reading this book, I feel so much of it validated. The world is getting sick, and people are losing their way. I have judged myself before for obsessing over purpose and meaning, and now with this book in hand, I see this as some of the most important work that we need right now.
We need to find our way back to ourselves and our humanity.
We need more human connection, not more AI.
We need funding in arts, not tech.
We need eye contact, not screens.
I don’t know about you, but I’m burnt out by it. I have a soul-deep fatigue, sprinkled with anger and disappointment.
This isn’t the world I signed up for.
Part 2 coming soon...
Photos of me in my humanity by Amy Hoyt of Lemon Wing. 🧚
📍 La Push, Washington