You went to school. You stayed up late studying for exams you barely remember now. You collected degrees like society told you to. You landed the job—the one everyone said was the dream. Maybe you’re married. Maybe you have a mortgage. You show up, you clock in, you smile at the right times, and you do your part.
From the outside looking in, it seems like you’ve arrived.
You are exactly where you were supposed to be by now.
So why does it feel so heavy?
Why does it feel like you’re sleepwalking through your life, moving from task to task on autopilot? Why is there a constant lump in your throat that you can’t quite explain? Why do you look around and think: This is it? This is what I worked so hard for?
You did everything “right”… and yet, something is missing.
It’s a strange, hollow feeling—almost like grief. A grief for the parts of yourself you abandoned in order to fit into a mold that never really felt like yours. You played the game. You followed the steps. You ticked the boxes. But in doing so, you silenced your inner voice—the one that whispered, There’s more to life than this.
That whisper is growing louder now, isn’t it?
It shows up in the middle of the night, when you’re staring at the ceiling wondering what it would feel like to feel alive again. It haunts you in quiet moments, when the mask slips and the truth creeps in: you feel stuck. Not because you didn’t try hard enough, but because what you were striving for may have never been your dream in the first place.
And that realization can be earth-shattering.
Because how do you admit that to the people you love? How do you explain that the job, the relationship, the life you’ve built feels… misaligned? How do you make sense of feeling lost when, by all societal measures, you’re exactly where you should be?
This is the invisible epidemic no one talks about—soul suffocation beneath the weight of expectations.
And it’s isolating. Deviating from the norm can feel like betrayal. Your desire for something different might be met with confusion, judgment, or even hurt from those who only want what’s “best” for you. Because we’re not taught to listen to our souls. We’re taught to follow the blueprint: Get the degree. Get the job. Get married. Buy the house. Retire. Repeat.
But life is not a linear checklist. And fulfillment can’t be found in someone else’s version of success.
So if you’re here, questioning everything, let me tell you this: You are not broken. You are awakening.
Feeling lost doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means your inner self is calling out for realignment. It means your soul is asking for more—more depth, more truth, more connection, more you. And yes, that can be terrifying. Because stepping outside the lines you’ve followed for so long can feel like standing alone in the dark.
But you’re not alone. So many people are quietly battling this same dissonance. Smiling in photos, succeeding on paper, but aching inside for something real.
It’s okay to feel what you feel.
It’s okay to grieve the life you thought would make you happy.
It’s okay to question everything—even if you don’t have all the answers yet.
And it’s okay to begin again.
Maybe what you need isn’t a drastic upheaval. Maybe it’s the courage to sit with yourself and ask the hard questions: What do I really want? What makes me feel alive? When do I feel most like myself?
You might not have the whole map, but you have the compass—and it’s pointing inward.
So, no—deviating from the norm doesn’t make you a failure, an outlier, or a pariah. It makes you human. Fully, deeply, achingly human. And in that vulnerability lies your power.
You can honor the path that got you here, while also daring to choose something different moving forward.
You can keep showing up for your life—but on your terms.
And slowly, breath by breath, you can build a life that doesn’t just look good—but feels right.
You are allowed to want more.
You are allowed to be more.
You are allowed to change the narrative—even if you wrote the first part of the story yourself.
The truth is, you already know what’s missing. You’ve just been taught to ignore it. But that voice inside? The one that won’t stop whispering? That’s not doubt. That’s your truth. And it’s time you start listening.
The Black Rose 