The Universe Will Never Test You On How Badly You Want Your Assigned Purpose
I was experiencing somewhat of a deja vu moment as I chatted with my friend over calamari and cocktails. Barely six months prior, I sat across from her over another meal assuring her that I’d be okay after walking away from a progressive 10-year career in finance and telecom. I’d saved money, I told her, enough to make it through the summer.
My last year of work was mentally rough. After being out on medical leave for two whole months following surgery, I got a taste of what it was like to be free from a corporate environment. I was burned out from re-enacting the same process month after month. I even told the head of my department that I didn’t want to see another spreadsheet again—in life. At the first lunch, I announced to my friend that I was going to enroll into the nearby community college to take classes that would help with a smoother transition to a full-time writer. I was already blogging and the now defunct Whole Living magazine had already shouted me out as community blogger of the month in its print issue. I took that as a sign to move forward.
I paid for my journalism and creative writing classes out-of-pocket so my first semester back in school was uneventful. Things didn’t go awry until I officially enrolled as a student, declared a major in public relations because there wasn’t a journalism or creative writing degree but PR involved heavy writing and applied for financial aid.
I told my friend how I was deemed ineligible for financial aid because I allegedly didn’t declare a major. Turns out the school had post-dated my major to the fall as if declaring a concentration were a bank check. And the school consequently returned my loan funds to the federal government.
I straightened that out only to have the school delay my refund—money that I had earmarked for books, parking, food, essential living—and blame it on the state. “Virginia decides when students get their refunds,” my financial aid counselor said. Meanwhile, students at neighboring Virginia schools were cashing their checks.
My life quickly became a big mess so, eventually, I withdrew from school.
“It’s only a test,” said my friend. “God just wants to see how badly you want it.” I paused to take a sip of my drink and closely study my friend as she continued to speak.
She made a statement I’d heard as far back as I could remember and admittedly, one I whole-heartedly believed enough to repeat to someone else once, twice, or thrice. But this time it didn’t sit well with me. It took me nearly a decade to figure out why.
Struggle is the antithesis of ease. It plays no part in manifestation or the Law Of Attraction.
I get that we face obstacles. Obstacles are designed to teach us how to think quickly and critically and make sound decisions. They teach us lessons and reveal areas where we can grow. They prepare us so that we can handle and maintain whatever it is that we’re meant to achieve. But to encounter one significant downfall immediately after another? That’s something else.
We tend to glorify struggle when it comes to manifesting our dreams. The more difficult the struggle, the greater the perceived blessing. If something appears to be too easy, our efforts to achieve it are somehow less noble. Too easy is simply too good to be true.
I recently read The Four Agreements for the first time and I remember the spiritualist master and author Don Miguel Ruiz talking about the process of human domestication, or how we build our belief system from childhood. He describes it as our Book of Law, which determines how we do, think, and feel. The catch is none of it is necessarily true. That’s how I initially learned about struggle being synonymous with hard work. Struggle was essentially a prerequisite to achievement.
We tend to glorify struggle when it comes to manifesting our dreams. The more difficult the struggle, the greater the perceived blessing. If something appears to be too easy, our efforts to achieve it are somehow less noble. Too easy is simply too good to be true.
I didn’t question this idea until I started to delve into vision boards, manifestation, and the Law Of Attraction. There’s nothing under the Law Of Attraction that mentions struggle. There’s no repulsion; instead like attracts like. Positive emotions draw positive events and negative thoughts and actions result in more negative events. It’s okay to experience an effortless flow. We can have ease. Harmony can be normal. In fact, it should be.
I realized that what really bothered me about my friend’s statement was why couldn’t it simply mean I was on the wrong path? Perhaps I needed to detour. Or maybe public relations wasn’t supposed to be part of my journey?
Our gifts technically aren’t for us. They benefit those around us, the individuals we’re meant to “serve.”
We’re each born with a purpose and a unique set of gifts to fulfill that purpose. But our gifts technically aren’t for us. They benefit those around us, the individuals we’re meant to “serve.” Would God, or the Universe, really test us on how badly we wanted whatever it is that we’re meant to do? Would He actually put the people who need us most on hold so we can prove how much we want our assigned mission?
Hint: It doesn’t even matter if we want it or not.
Trust that your gift will always find you as long as you’re open and aligned.
I recently watched an Instagram live with media maven and entrepreneur Tai Beauchamp. Beauchamp hosts the daily Morning Mindset as a way for her community to set intentions for the day. This particular Morning Mindset’s guest was fitness and wellness influencer Angelique Miles, a former renowned music executive.
Angelique talked about how she lost her last industry position and spent the next 14 years trying to revive her career. While she networked, she decided to do the one thing that set the tone for her day, which was exercise. It wasn’t until Angelique surrendered that she “fell” into a brand new career that she absolutely loves. She now inspires other women, particularly aged 50+, to prioritize their fitness. But her relentless desire to reenter music? That 14-year struggle? It was meaningless—to an extent—and I say “to an extent” because it was more of a lesson than a show of her commitment to a particular career. Music was no longer part of her journey.
Ten years later, my battle is no longer applying to irrelevant programs or searching for public relations jobs and wondering why I can’t land a single interview. I’ve since figured out that my sweet spot—my purpose—is sharing my personal triumphs through stories like this one. They resonate best with readers or the community that seeks my particular guidance. I only make my professional life difficult by actively seeking traditional news and entertainment or technical writing positions because I’m over this freelance life or actively pursuing random roles that are totally unrelated to writing and wondering why I’m once again mentally and emotionally drained. None of those is my ministry and they won’t come to full fruition unless the Universe says so.
I’ve long abandoned the concept of some mandatory or “motivating” struggle.
I’ve rewritten a few pages in my Book of Law and replaced one of the entries with the idea that an occasional roadblock means I took a wrong turn away from my ultimate destination. The key is acknowledging and accepting that I’m off-track and listening to the voice of the Universe because, like the voice of a GPS system, it’ll always redirect me to the right path, one free of collisions, deep potholes, and dead ends.
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Featured image Shutterstock ; illustration by Work The Magic Within
Owww! (In my Cardi B. voice)