In Between Dreams

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”
— Robert Byrne

They say in your twenties life passes in a blink – well, mine certainly did. Now, as I edge closer to 30, I catch myself wondering: where did all those days go? And more importantly, what did I leave behind when I got so caught up in this thing we call adulthood?

My Hogwarts Wizarding Days

Back in undergrad, I was very much into books. While reading Harry Potter, I was so deep in the plot that it felt like I had my own dorm room in Hogwarts. Then came Nicholas Sparks’ romances – where i fell in love with every other character and my heart got broken more times than I can count. After that, thanks to Percy Jackson, Greek gods and demigods became my roommates; I knew more about Zeus’s love affairs than any of my classmates. Good old days haha.

When Adulting Shelved My Passions

Then life happened. I moved countries, landed my first “real” job, and suddenly those stacks of novels were just fancy décor. I’d always had books around me. Whenever i walked past my bookshelf, the thought, “I should really read that again…” often came I never really did that. The Hogwarts Wizarding days felt like a different lifetime.

The Purpose Question

Somewhere between growing in my career and paying my apartment’s rent, a bigger question crept in: What is my purpose in this life? I realized I’d been running toward goals that, from a higher vantage point, barely mattered. I thought a lot about this and even wrote an article about how i actually enjoy helping people. That moment of clarity got me back me back to books – but this time, I wasn’t just chasing fairy tales. I started reading more of these non-fiction books about life and philosophy which the younger me would have never had.

Discovering “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

A friend handed me a slim volume with an interesting title: How Will You Measure Your Life? It spoke directly to that nagging purpose question I’d been dragging around for months. I won’t lie, I kinda felt obliged and thought “Maybe this will be like a book which has all the answers to the questions in my head”. And it did – well, in a much different way than i had originally thought.

Lessons from Reunion Stories

The author kicks off with college reunions. At the 5-year reunion, everyone looked like they were winning at life – six-figure salaries, exotic work locations, surprise marriages. But at the 10-year reunion, the picture changed a lot:

• The once-high-achiever who’d gone bankrupt and divorced.
• The straight-A student now runs a multi-million dollar company.
• The cheerful classmate who’d vanished entirely – no one knew why.

Smart, driven people ended up on wildly different paths. Some were thriving professionally, yet crumbling personally. Others stayed true to themselves and built balanced, happy lives. It got be curious because all these were some of the smartest people one could have ever hoped to see. Why did some of them achieve everything they thought and others struggled and got dragged in the dark side?

Three Questions for a Fulfilling Life

Later in the book, it suggests we ask ourselves at every crossroads:

1. Career & Happiness: How can I be sure I’ll find success and fulfillment at work?
2. Enduring Relationships: What steps will keep my spouse, children, and friends a source of joy?
3. Integrity & Staying Out of Jail: How do I live by my values every single day?

They sound easy, right? But each one can send your brain into a full-on spin when you actually try to answer it – trust me, I got a bit lost just thinking about them, haha. The good news is the book doesn’t leave you hanging; it walks you through how to wrestle with these questions and build a life that actually feels like yours.

Whats next?

So, that’s where I’m at: lost and excited about these three deceptively simple questions and a great book waiting to be read on my nightstand. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be diving into each question in its own post – sharing stories, missteps, and aha-moments as I learn to measure success by more than just titles and paychecks.

But before I jump into those deep dives, I want to hear from you:

• Which of these three questions resonates most with you right now?
• Have you ever noticed a fork in the road where one question pulled you in a new direction?

Drop your thoughts in the comments below – I’m building this journey together with you, and your perspective might just spark my next post.

Until then, happy reading (and measuring)!