For most of my life, I thought the path to fulfillment was forward. That peace lived just on the other side of a better system, a bigger vision, or a more optimized schedule.
So I chased.
I built. I strategized. I crossed off goal after goal, believing that once I dialled in the outer world - my business, my calendar, my relationships - then I'd feel whole.
But what no one told me was that the real journey isn’t outward.
It’s inward.
And the map is drawn in reverse.
What I’ve learned, slowly, clumsily, over many years, is that alignment doesn’t come from building. It comes from uncovering.
Layer by layer. Mask by mask. Story by story.
We spend so much of our early life accumulating. Trying on personas. Learning how to be acceptable. How to be impressive. How to belong.
We become very good at managing the expectations of others. So good, in fact, that we forget who we are beneath them.
Eventually, if we’re lucky, we begin to feel the weight of all that performance. The numbness. The fatigue. The quiet ache that follows us even into our wins.
That ache is sacred.
It’s the soul tugging at our sleeve, whispering: there’s something here to look at.
That whisper is what led me to stillness.
Not the Instagrammable kind with candles and perfect lighting. I’m talking about the deeply uncomfortable kind that strips away your roles and leaves you sitting face-to-face with yourself.
Stillness is not easy. It confronts you with everything you’ve been avoiding: the unprocessed grief, the unresolved questions, the stories you still carry that were never yours to begin with.
But stillness is also what lets the noise settle.
And when the noise settles, something else becomes audible.
Your own voice. Your own rhythm. Your own truth.
That’s the moment of remembering- not discovering, but remembering - who you are underneath the layers.
And let me tell you, it’s not some Instagram-worthy epiphany.
It’s quieter than that.
It’s a feeling of finally being home in your own body. A softening. A loosening. A knowing that you don’t have to strive quite so hard anymore.
What I’ve learned in these years of peeling back and coming home is this:
You don’t need to become someone.
You need to stop pretending to be someone you’re not.
You don’t need more information.
You need more integration.
You don’t need to prove yourself.
You need to trust yourself.
And perhaps most importantly: you don’t need a bigger life.
You need a truer one.
The soul doesn’t shout. It whispers.
Stillness is how we learn to hear it again.
And uncovering is how we learn to live from it.
With love and reverence for your journey,
Mike
P.S.
This process of peeling back the layers and remembering what matters is what inspired me to create Wayfinders.
And it’s why I’m returning, for the third and likely final time, to Bhutan in 2026, to sit with the monks, walk ancient Himalayan trails, and be in stillness with others walking this same path. Find out more here.
P.S. – Ways to Continue the Journey
If you’re looking to keep walking the path with me, here are a few ways to do so:
🎧 Podcast: A Wayfinder’s Guide to Life launches June 3. Stories, conversations, and soul-maps for the journey inward. Season One’s ten episodes look at midlife through the lens of the hero’s journey. Follow the show on Spotify or Apple.
🌀 Monthly Soul Talks: Intimate, live community calls where we drop the masks, speak the truth, and hold space for the questions that really matter. Upcoming events will be posted at https://lu.ma/soultalks (subscribe to the calendar to get notified)
🌍 Upcoming Adventures: Want to journey with us into the sacred wild? Check out upcoming Wayfinders Adventures
🔥 For Men in Toronto: Join Around the Fire, an invitation-only space for men to connect in depth and truth. Subscribe here to be notified about future gatherings.