You’re not broken—you’re awakening.
Finding and sharing this wisdom today is how I earn my gift of sobriety since 1993.
Dear Son,
Have you ever wondered why, after a spiritual awakening, your motivation just disappears?
Before awakening, you might have been someone with goals, dreams, plans, and an inner fire pushing you forward. But suddenly, after you wake up, you find yourself staring at the same life—and everything feels different. Not better, not worse—just… emptier.
The things that once got you out of bed no longer matter.
The dreams that once excited you now feel like someone else’s.
The plans you made suddenly feel too small… or too meaningless.
You feel like a balloon that’s had all the air let out.
It’s one of the most common—yet least talked about—parts of awakening. And it makes people panic.
Why do I feel like I don’t care about anything anymore?
Why can’t I push myself like I used to?
Where did my passion go?
It’s scary when the inner flame you relied on disappears. But here’s the truth:
Your old motivation didn’t vanish.
It was replaced.
And what you’re going through is not a breakdown.
It’s a realignment.
Before your awakening, much of your motivation came from the ego.
That’s not a judgment. It’s just how we’ve been conditioned.
We were taught from the beginning that we need to be somebody. That we need to succeed, achieve, be liked, be impressive. We were told to chase dreams, reach goals, and constantly push forward.
But we were rarely asked one important question: Why?
The ego has a hundred answers to that question:
To prove yourself.
To be seen.
To avoid failure.
To feel safe.
To make people proud.
To avoid shame.
To be admired.
But all of those reasons are based in fear.
Fear of not being enough.
Fear of being forgotten.
Fear of being rejected.
Fear of being unloved.
So, while motivation might have looked like ambition, it was often rooted in the fear of who you’d be without success.
Spiritual awakening strips that away.
It shines a light on the illusions.
It makes you look at what was really behind the drive.
You begin to see that so much of what you were doing wasn’t for love or joy or peace… but to fill a hole that couldn’t be filled.
And when you see that truth, you can’t keep running on the same fuel. You lose the taste for it.
It’s like waking up from a dream where you were running a race—and realizing the race was never real in the first place.
This is why, after awakening, you often feel like you’ve hit a wall.
The goals you used to work toward feel hollow.
The achievements you once craved now feel silly.
Even things like building a career, gaining recognition, or being productive might suddenly seem irrelevant.
It’s not that you don’t care.
It’s that you can now see through it.
You can see that no amount of success can give you what you’re really looking for:
Peace.
Love.
Truth.
Freedom.
But here’s where it gets tricky.
When people lose their old motivation, they often assume something is wrong.
They start to think they’re broken, depressed, lazy, unfocused.
But what’s really happening is something sacred.
You’re in a transition.
You’re in the space between stories.
The identity that was chasing things is dissolving—and what’s replacing it isn’t ready to speak yet.
This space is often called the void.
It feels like a dark, quiet, aimless place.
You’re no longer the person you used to be—but you’re not yet sure who you’re becoming.
It’s uncomfortable. It’s unfamiliar.
And our minds hate unfamiliarity.
So we panic. We try to go back.
We try to remotivate ourselves the old way:
We look for hacks.
Routines.
To-do lists.
Self-help books.
We try to get the engine running again.
But the engine is gone.
And no amount of pushing will bring it back.
Trying to force yourself to be motivated the old way is like trying to plug a new system into an outdated power source.
It won’t work.
And here’s why:
Your old motivation came from separation—from thinking you were incomplete, from believing you had to become more.
Awakening reveals:
You are already whole.
Already enough.
Already divine.
And when you truly see that, there’s no longer a reason to chase anything.
So where does that leave you?
If you’re not chasing… are you just stuck?
Is life just… empty?
No.
The emptiness you’re feeling is not the absence of life.
It’s the absence of illusion.
And when you stop clinging to the illusion, you make space for something real to emerge.
But here’s the part most people miss:
The new motivation after awakening doesn’t look like the old one.
It’s quieter. Softer.
It doesn’t roar like ambition.
It whispers like intuition.
It’s not fueled by pressure.
It flows from peace.
It doesn’t come from force.
It arises from presence.
This new motivation comes from alignment.
You don’t act because you should.
Or because you have to.
Or because you’re afraid not to.
You act because something inside you moves you.
A quiet pull—like the tide pulling the waves.
You feel called, not pushed.
You feel invited, not commanded.
You start to do things not to get anywhere… but because it feels true in the moment.
You create—not to impress—but because your soul wants to express.
You help—not for praise—but because love is pouring through you.
You speak—not to convince—but because truth wants a voice.
But this kind of motivation takes time to notice.
You have to get quiet.
You have to slow down.
And in a world that worships speed and productivity… that can feel wrong.
But it’s not wrong.
It’s real.
You’re not being lazy.
You’re being rewired.
And that takes stillness.
That takes surrender.
So, how do you reconnect with purpose in this new way?
First: Stop looking out there.
Your purpose is not something you find in the world.
It’s something that reveals itself when you stop trying to be someone.
Let yourself be empty for a while.
Let yourself not know.
That’s where the real clarity begins.
Next: Pay attention to what brings peace.
Not excitement.
Not adrenaline.
Peace.
What calms your nervous system?
What makes you breathe deeper?
That’s where your soul is speaking.
Follow that feeling.
That’s your compass.
Now, get curious.
Not in a pressure-filled way—just gently.
What feels interesting?
What feels good?
If you weren’t trying to be anyone, what would you do today?
You might be surprised how simple the answer is.
Maybe you’d take a walk.
Call a friend.
Write something.
Sing.
Create.
Cook.
It doesn’t have to be important.
It just has to be real.
And be of service.
Again—not in a performative way.
Not to be a good person.
But because giving connects you to life.
Helping others without needing anything back reminds you of your wholeness.
It shifts your energy from lack… to love.
And in that love, purpose awakens.
Also: Stay patient.
Awakening is not a straight line.
There will be days when you feel deeply connected…
And days when you feel totally lost.
That’s okay.
It’s not about staying in a high vibration all the time.
It’s about being honest with where you are—and letting that be enough.
Even the lost days are sacred.
Eventually, something beautiful happens.
You stop looking for purpose…
And you realize you are the purpose.
Your presence.
Your awareness.
Your being.
The peace you carry.
The love you radiate.
That’s it. That’s the point.
And from that state, action naturally flows.
You don’t force it.
You don’t plan it.
You just… follow it.
One day, you wake up and realize you’re doing things again.
But not from pressure—from peace.
You’re creating again—not for validation, but for joy.
You’re moving again—not to escape, but to express.
You’re not chasing meaning anymore.
You’re living it.
This new way of being won’t make sense to the old mind.
The ego will say:
“But what about goals? What about money? What about productivity?”
And those things might still matter—but in a different way.
You’re no longer enslaved to them.
You’re no longer seeking identity through them.
You might still build a business.
Or start a project.
Or pursue a dream.
But now, it’s not about becoming someone.
It’s about letting life move through you.
You don’t need to prove anything anymore.
You don’t need to achieve your way to worthiness.
You are worthy now, as you are.
Not because of what you do—
But because of who you are.
If I had a son, I’d want him to hear this:
If you’ve lost motivation after awakening, don’t panic.
Don’t try to fix yourself.
You’re not broken.
You’re transforming.
You’re being guided out of illusion and into truth.
And truth doesn’t scream.
It whispers.
It nudges.
It waits.
Let it find you.
There will come a day when your energy returns. Not the old kind—but a new kind. It’s steadier, truer, kinder. And it doesn’t come from fear. It comes from love.
And when it does, you’ll look back and realize:
The emptiness you feared was actually grace.
It was the sacred space where your real self could finally speak.
And now—with nothing left to chase—you can finally live fully, freely, as you.
Because you are the purpose.
And the world needs you.
Not the version of you that was trying so hard to be something—
but the version of you that remembers…
You already are everything you were looking for.
This letter was inspired by a video that deeply resonated with me. I’ve taken its message and written the letter I wish someone had written to me—and maybe to a son, if I had one.
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