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Let's start with something we all feel but don't always know how to say. That strange ache in your chest when you ask, "Why am I here?"

Yeah. Like that 2 a.m. moment when you're staring at the ceiling, questioning everything, even why your socks go missing in the laundry. Carl Jung called this the search for meaning.

He believed humans aren't just driven by pleasure or survival, but by a deep psychological need to discover their purpose.

And when we don't have that purpose, we feel lost. Like a GPS with no signal, or worse, a Grab driver with no destination.

Exactly. Jung said that this purpose is like a north star, a personal compass. It helps us make sense of our lives even during chaos.

Like when you know what really matters to you, every decision becomes clearer, even the hard ones.

Right? In the Red Book, Jung wrote that our true purpose isn't about what we gain, but about what we're willing to give up. He used the term voluntary sacrifice, letting go of shallow desires to grow into our true self. And that self isn't a career title or your follower count. It's who you're meant to become when you stop pretending and start transforming.

Let me quote Jung directly here. He wrote, "The highest truth is one and the same with the deepest suffering. The self is born in sacrifice."

Whoa, that hits deep. No wonder this guy spent years writing in the woods. But he was on to something. And today, even modern science agrees. A 2016 study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who report having a strong sense of life purpose live longer, are more optimistic, and recover faster from illness.

Well, it also explains why people with no purpose often spiral into anxiety, stress, or that classic, "What am I doing with my life?" feeling. Jung would call that the shutdown, when your soul rebels against a life that feels meaningless. It often shows up as depression, burnout, or even a midlife crisis. So maybe the real question isn't, "What do I want, but what am I willing to sacrifice for?"

Yes, that's Jung's big idea. Your purpose is revealed not by what you chase, but by what you choose to let go of.

Okay, time to get real. Jung says that if you want to find your purpose, you have to sacrifice. And not like, oh no, I missed a sale on Lazada kind of sacrifice. I mean real gut level stuff.

Yes. And this is where it gets deep. Jung didn't just mean sacrifice in the moral or religious sense. He believed that purpose is discovered through what we're willing to give up, especially when it's something we value like comfort, safety, or ego.

So, you're telling me purpose isn't found in comfort?

Sadly, no. True sacrifice in Jung's view involves giving up a part of yourself or some personal convenience for something bigger than you. It could be time, money, ambition, even parts of your identity.

All right, let me nerd out for a second. In her book, Grit, psychologist Angela Duckworth says that real success comes from deliberate practice. That basically means do hard stuff on purpose for a long time. So, yeah, if you want purpose, you might have to give up relaxing in your pajamas and scrolling through your phone all day.

Exactly. And here's something even deeper. Jung believed that the sacrifice has to be your own choice. If someone forces you to let go of something, it creates anger or trauma. But if you choose it yourself, that's when it becomes powerful. Like choosing to delete Instagram for a month to write your novel versus your mom changing your password and saying it's for your own good. One builds growth, the other builds anger, and maybe a secret second account.

Your mother must have been helpless with your mischief, Leo.