Discovering Your Purpose: The Path to a Meaningful Life

Purpose is one of those tricky and sticky things that people struggle with for most of their lives.

You’ve exited the business.

You have space, freedom, maybe even financial security.

But inside?

There’s a strange restlessness. A low hum of melancholy.

You’re no longer driven by pressure, but you’re also not pulled by purpose.

You might find yourself thinking:

“I have time and money—but no fire inside.”

This is more common than you think.

You’re not broken. You’re not ungrateful.

You’re just in-between identities, waiting to reconnect with meaning.

Where Did Your Fire Go?

That fire that once drove you—the sense of building something bigger than yourself—didn’t disappear.

It just got paused.

Or buried beneath the weight of the last chapter.

You were driven by a mission.

Now, without it, you’re floating.

And the question becomes: What’s worth committing to now?

Ancient Clues from Timeless Thinkers

You’re not the first to ask this question, and you won’t be the last.

Let’s take wisdom from those who walked this path long before us:

The Stoics believed purpose was aligning with nature and reason—trusting what is, and flowing with life’s natural rhythm.

Plato believed purpose was about seeking eternal truth—moving beyond appearances to something deeper, lasting, and real.

Aristotle believed purpose was found in eudaimonia—a flourishing life built on virtue, courage, and contribution.

And at the heart of all three?

Living in alignment with something greater than yourself.

Finding Your Next Purpose Isn’t a Rush Job

Rediscovering purpose post-exit is a process, not a performance.

It doesn’t come from filling time.

It comes from reconnecting to what makes you feel alive again.

Here are a few places to start:

1. Reconnect with what energises you.
What lights you up—even in small moments?

2. Rediscover your natural gifts.
What comes easily to you and still matters, even now?

3. Test and try with intention.
Purpose often reveals itself through doing, not just thinking.
Start small. See what clicks.

You didn’t exit your business to lose your sense of self.

You exited so you could find a new version of it.

This time, built from the inside out.

Here’s to living up to the light within you,

Tanya Cross

Leadership Coach & The Coaches’ Coach

Master Certified Demartini Method Facilitator
BAppSoSc (Counselling)

The Coaches’ Coach (TCC)