“What good is livin’ a life you’ve been given if all you do is stand in one place?”
I heard that lyric the other day. Definitely not for the first time — probably closer to the hundredth (it’s on my list of liked songs, after all). But for some reason, this time it landed differently.
Hearing vs. Listening
Here’s what I believe: you only hear things when you’re ready to hear them.
Whether it’s a song, a conversation, or a lesson from the universe, big or small, it won’t resonate on a soul level until you’re in the right season to receive it.
And maybe it landed this time because I’ve been thinking about how many people aren’t really living. They’re standing still.
Not physically — but emotionally, spiritually, soulfully — standing in one place.
They wake up, go to work, scroll through their phones, plan for a future version of themselves that never quite arrives.
They talk about the things they want to do “someday.”
But someday keeps moving further away.
The Pain of Standing Still
It’s wild how comfortable we can get in our own cages. The routines, the titles, the relationships, the shoulds — they start to feel like safety.
But they’re not safety. They’re stagnation dressed up as stability.
I know this because I’ve done it.
I’ve stood still.
I’ve built a whole life inside a version of myself that wasn’t even mine — that was borrowed from what I thought I was supposed to want.
“When the soul starts to ache, that’s usually the universe’s way of tapping you on the shoulder. Quiet at first. Then louder. Then relentless.”
Because here’s the thing: when we go against what is truly for us — when we deny what we really want in favor of what we think we should want — resistance shows up in all sorts of forms. Frustration. Confusion. Restlessness. Exhaustion. Life nudges you, then shoves you, then refuses to let you ignore the tug anymore.
Most of the time, we don’t stop to ask ourselves the question that matters most:
“What do I really want?”
And I get it. That question is terrifying. Because if you actually stop and listen — if you actually hear the answer — suddenly you’re accountable. Suddenly, the path forward is yours to walk. There’s power in knowing the truth about what your heart desires, but there’s also risk. And if you don’t act on it, there’s no one else to blame. You either do, or you don’t.
That’s the cruel and beautiful paradox of self-awareness: knowing gives you freedom… but it also takes away excuses.
Moving Again
And hey — I’ve been there. Twice divorced, a mountain of self-help books behind me, and enough therapy sessions to qualify for a small degree in psychology. Still learning. Still stumbling. Still leaning.
But I can say this with confidence: I’m no longer standing still.
I’m following my passion. I’m making a believer out of myself. And what I’ve realized is that when you stop chasing after what your soul doesn’t want, the path to everything you do want suddenly becomes free and clear.
Life is waiting — not with a perfect map, not with guarantees, but with open roads and the permission to take them.
-A
Oh, and by the way — that song is “Ends of the Earth” by Lord Huron. I wonder now, what song you’ll listen to for the hundredth time… only to finally hear it for the first time…
One Life One Encounter 
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