There is no way I could exaggerate how much I wish I’d known to ask that question when I began my own essence journey.

I was on the verge of giving up.

On the outside, I had the perfect family. I was healthy and had a good job. 

But I was empty inside. 

I knew I wasn’t living up to my potential. As perfect as it seemed, as much as I thought I had all the “things” I was supposed to have gotten by that point in life, I was not happy with my life. 

Eventually, I realized I had given up on my dreams and settled for a “normal life.” I had given up on my dreams for so long that I forgot what they were. 

I didn’t even know what I wanted or who I really was. 

I kept trying to be perfect: the perfect mom, the perfect teacher, the perfect leader in my job. 

But I just felt like I couldn’t measure up. I was exhausted; always felt I was too much or too little of everything, worried constantly about what others were thinking of me and was filled with self-doubt. 

I also wondered where was the fun and adventure in life? 

The passion? 

The new experiences? 

The freedom? 

My life was “normal.” And I was sick of it. 

I invested tens of thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars seeking fulfillment and growth. But something was always missing. 

So, I began to wonder if maybe this is just all there is. 

Eventually, I realized that nothing was missing – it was hidden.

My essence was hidden deep beneath the layers of “woulds,” and “shoulds,” and compromises I’d made over a lifetime. I knew I had to dig deep through those layers to recover myself.

And that’s what I did.