The darkness is made darker by our fear of it. When we stop fighting our own shadows — grief, anger, fear — we find they are not enemies but teachers, revealing where transformation is waiting.

The path to any real dream is never clean or linear. It’s tangled, thorny, and unpredictable. But an imperfect path is still a path. When you meet the mess, don’t fight it. Get curious, get creative, and take heart. The chaos itself is your initiation, and the joy you find within it the medicine you’re looking for.

After 30 years of chasing my ‘purpose,’ I let it go. I stopped believing a meaningful life depended on finding purpose and embraced the idea of ‘joy and medicine’ instead. Joy is alive, playful, adaptable where purpose is brittle. This kind of joy can flow into medicine, and medicine is what you are here to give back to the world.

Shadow stories show up when we least expect them, holding us back just as we’re ready to grow. But they aren’t obstacles. They’re dragons guarding hidden treasure. When we sit with them long enough to uncover the gift they conceal, we can reclaim our gold and move forward with courage.