Where'd All the Time Go?

I recently went on a vacation to a small village in Himachal Pradesh called Shoja. Did I plan the trip? Not at all. I just knew I had five days. No itinerary. No checklist. No "things to do before leaving." Five days with absolutely no purpose.

And somehow, those five days turned out to be the most amazing days of my life!

Not because I discovered something extraordinary, but because I stopped trying to extract meaning from every moment. There was no pressure to make memories, no anxiety about making the “right” choice. Every day unfolded without needing my approval. And that absence of control made everything feel lighter, almost honest.

I met strangers who didn't stay strangers for long. I went on treks I hadn't even heard of before arriving. I ate food that wasn't on Google Maps. Conversations flowed without introductions, plans formed and dissolved naturally, and time stopped behaving the way it usually does.Everything was unplanned. And for once, I let life happen.

There was something deeply uncomfortable about that at first. The silence. The lack of direction. The absence of urgency. But slowly, that discomfort turned into curiosity. Then into ease. And eventually into a quiet kind of joy

We're obsessed with purpose.

Purpose in our careers, Purpose in our relationships, Purpose in our hobbies, Purpose in our mornings, our workouts, our weekends.

We've turned existing into a performance where everything needs a reason, a goal, a measurable outcome. Somewhere along the way, “just being” stopped being enough. Don't get me wrong, purpose matters. It gives direction. It helps us move forward. It gives structure when chaos feels overwhelming.

But we've made it too heavy. We've made purpose feel like a deadline. Like a burden. Like something you're failing at if you don't have it figured out.

The freedom without purpose

On this trip, not having a purpose gave me something I hadn't felt in a long time: freedom.

Freedom to wake up without deciding what kind of day it should be. Freedom to say yes without calculating outcomes. Freedom to follow someone else's curiosity instead of my own plans.

I lived life through someone else's eyes, a local's suggestion, a fellow traveler's excitement, a random “let's just go there.” And it felt surreal in the best way possible. Purpose didn't guide me. Presence did!

Sometimes, the most radical thing you can do is stop asking what something is for and simply experience it as it is.

New beginnings

As we step into a new year, sure, have a purpose. Have goals. Intentions. Something to move toward. But, One thing I always say: leave some room for serendipity. Because some of the best moments in life don't come from chasing purpose they come from letting go just enough for life to surprise you.

And maybe that, in itself, is a kind of purpose worth keeping!