Still empty
You hit the goal. Sign the deal. See your name where you once dreamed it’d be. And for a minute, it feels like you’ve arrived.
Then you start watching yourself. The numbers. The praise. The story you’re telling about the story you’re living.
And that’s when it slips — the work loses its edge, the hunger dulls, the meaning fades into mirrors.
The more you look at it, the less it feels like yours.
You think you’re chasing progress, but you’re just chasing your own reflection.
The emptiness isn’t failure. It’s a warning — to stop looking, and start doing again.