Finding Purpose: My Journey to a Fulfilling Slow-Living Business
Have you ever felt like something was missing in your work—like you were meant for more but couldn’t quite figure out what? I’ve been there, too. For years, I chased traditional success but felt unfulfilled, overwhelmed, and out of alignment with what truly mattered to me.
It wasn’t until I took a step back and began prioritizing my values, passions, and well-being that I discovered my true purpose. That shift led me to create a meaningful, flexible, and fulfilling slow-living business—a journey that changed everything for me.
In this post, I’m sharing the story of how I found my purpose, along with ideas to inspire your own journey of self-discovery. Because sometimes, the purpose you’ve been searching for is closer than you think.
How People-Pleasing Derailed My Early Dreams
When I was in kindergarten, I wanted to be a ballerina. I had taken precisely one class, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to perform. Unlike so many of my classmates, it wasn’t the pretty dresses or pink shoes that grabbed my attention. It was being on a stage.
A year later, my answer changed to wanting to be a teacher. My first-grade teacher, Mrs. McCormick, was my idol. She was empathetic and kind yet had high expectations. I adored her and wanted to excel in school to impress her. Seeing her read to us, teach us new things, and encourage our various talents opened up something dormant within me.
I had grown up in a household where my family often teased me for always having my nose in a book, but at school, Mrs. McCormick praised my love for reading and my spelling and vocabulary skills. She taught me I could finally be myself by accepting my strengths.
Yet ironically, the more I threw myself into school over the years, the more my dreams for myself began to waver.
I began to fall into people-pleasing patterns for both teachers and family members. I had an unstable home life and found myself over-exerting to be the perfect student to get the attention and love I so desperately missed at home. I also noticed that traditional career goals like lawyer, doctor, and engineer got more respect and attention than ones like teacher, social worker, or writer.
In the process, I abandoned my dreams of helping others and gravitated toward building a career that I subconsciously thought would bring me love and acceptance.
At the same time, fueled by my unhealthy and emotionally abusive home situation, I wanted to build a career that could make me the most money as quickly as possible. I enrolled as an undergraduate engineering student, got a job as a project engineer at a semiconductor company, and was soon making enough money that I no longer saw the need for school. A few years in, I dropped out of college.
I made great money as a project engineer and was on the fast track for a career in engineering project management, but deep down, I knew I wasn’t happy. After a few significant life changes, including the loss of three close family members and then meeting my future husband, my perspective on life and my career began to change.
Embracing Change: A Turning Point in My Journey
When a major event happens in your life, it can be a fantastic catalyst for change.
In my case, I stopped worrying so much about what others expected of me. I began thinking of my earliest childhood dreams and then wondering how I got so far off track. I used my workplace program to help fund college classes and returned to college, taking classes and doing homework on my lunch break, after work, and on weekends.
Eight years after my initial college enrollment, I graduated with an undergraduate degree—the first person in my family to do so. And I had done it mostly by taking classes that fueled my spirit, like English, writing, women’s studies, environmental studies, and sociology.
In fact, thanks to an innovative career counselor, I had pieced those humanities courses together with earlier credits in math, science, and engineering to earn a B.S. in Liberal Studies degree, a credential to this day I laugh about being about as useful as it sounds.
As part of my senior project, I created the online magazine Empowerment4Women, which I ran for 11 years. I published over 30 issues and worked with dozens of writers, editors, and artists to create a platform that empowered women from all walks of life to tell their stories, share, and learn from one another.
The work was incredibly rewarding (if not particularly profitable). I had found my purpose: to get away from engineering and the pursuit of money and move toward a fulfilling career focusing on writing, publications management, and human rights issues. I felt empowered and fulfilled to shine my light and help others.
But was I right? Was it actually my purpose?
Sort of. It certainly was my purpose at that moment in time, but it wasn’t the whole picture.
As Empowerment4Women evolved and grew, I began freelance writing, editing, and web design, exploring my creative and artistic sides. I felt like I was finally doing work I was meant to be doing… until I hit a dead end and had more than one client tell me they couldn’t hire me because I didn’t have a degree in English.
What? I couldn’t believe it. As the sole member of my family to earn a college degree, I naively thought my undergraduate credentials would open any door I wanted to open. (IKR? 😂) I was both astonished and heartbroken to realize that my ultimate dreams—which at that point revolved around editing—could end.
That is until a new purpose fell into my lap.
When I told my in-laws about the heartbreaking realization that I needed an English degree, my mother-in-law said quite matter-of-factly, “Well, then go get an English degree.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I already have a degree.”
She smiled with kindness and understanding, realizing I had no idea what she was saying.
“No, I mean go to graduate school.”
I was floored; the idea had never occurred to me. I barely thought of myself as someone who could get an undergraduate degree, much less apply for graduate school. But with the support of my husband and in-laws, I applied to graduate schools across the country. Much to my surprise, I got into one of the best in the nation: the Professional Communication program at Clemson University.
Now, surely, I had found my purpose. Right?
After all, I got into an esteemed English graduate program with areas of focus in editing. They had graduated many professional editors, writers, academics, and other bigwigs in communication and English. I was on cloud nine to finally pitch to my clients that I had a degree in English and they could hire me now with no problem. I was on my way to finally finding my purpose.
But then another surprise hit, shaking my core purpose yet again.
Discovering My Passion Through Teaching
At the end of the first year of my master’s program, my advisor told me that I would be teaching instead of working only in the lab for my second year. Everyone would be teaching, no exceptions.
Um, excuse me?
I felt barely qualified to attend an undergraduate English class, much less teach one—but there I was, learning that I’d be teaching two classes of first-year English composition. And I only had a few short months to prepare.
I was terrified, much like most of my classmates. Most of us had missed the memo that we’d have to teach during the second year of our program, cleverly thinking we’d all magically land research or lab positions instead. (It turns out we had to do both.)
And so, there I was, at the end of my first year of graduate school, taking a seminar on how to teach English composition. Alongside my seminar classmates, I was creating, brainstorming, and innovating new ways of teaching… and then it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was supposed to do this; this was my purpose. I knew it before even walking into the classroom on that first day.
I was meant to be a teacher.
And a little voice that sounded exactly like me when I was in first grade spoke up and said, “See? I told you we wanted to be a teacher.”
Now, my purpose has changed a few times since that explosive realization, but the core things I love about teaching have never changed: I love helping others, I love teaching people how to learn new things, and I am never one to shy away from the spotlight, enjoying speaking in front of classes as much as leading discussions and activities.
In short, I love the stage, and I love to teach.
Two things I could have told myself back when I was five and six years old—if only I’d listened.
Uncovering Your True Purpose
Sometimes, finding your purpose takes a long and winding path. Feeling directionless in your career can feel frustrating, hopeless, and confusing—like you’re never on the right path and are constantly searching for what (or who) you’re supposed to be.
Believe me, I get it.
But, if you pay attention to where your journey takes you, you might find it has been with you all along.
Are you ready to start your new future? Learn to improve your self-esteem and identify your professional strengths, expertise, and goals with the Own Your Strengths Starter Kit. It’s the first step toward finding your purpose and creating the business of your dreams.
