Aug 31, 2026 · 6 min · 5 segments
What if the pursuit of the thing is actually what's keeping you from having it? In this mini episode, I'm sitting with a question I haven't been able to shake: can we ever really have something if…
Maddie McGuireHost
I've been sitting with a question lately and I haven't really been able to shake it or wrap my mind around it.
I kind of keep poking holes in it and it's been something that I've been sitting with and it is this.
Can we ever actually have something if we are purely in the pursuit of it? So essentially, can I live where I am right now if I'm so focused on where I'm going to be next year or where I want to be next year? Can I feel regulated when some of my energy is going into figuring out how to get regulated? Can I feel at peace when peace itself is a thing that I'm chasing? Because here's the paradox.
And I think a lot of us, especially creatives who are wired to always be building, always be growing, always be reaching, are living inside of this paradox without even realizing it.
Some examples might be more confidence, more clarity on the direction you want to be heading, more peace, a regulated nervous system, a career that feels aligned, a version of yourself that finally feels like enough.
Now ask yourself, in the pursuit of those things, are you actually experiencing any of them? Or does the pursuit itself create a kind of low-grade anxiety that keeps you just far enough from the finish line to never quite arrive? This isn't an argument about growth or ambition.
It's a question about how we relate to the gap between where we are and where we want to be.
Because if that gap feels like a problem to be solved, if the present moment is just an obstacle standing between you and the future version of your life, you are going to spend a lot of time living in a place you never fully arrive at.
It's to stop making where you are right now wrong or making where you are right now the place you want to escape to get to the place that you're dying to go to.
So what does it look like to become obsessed with where you are right now? To love yourself and your life before the growth, before the achievement, before whatever it is that you are trying to become.
I've been sitting with a question lately and I haven't really been able to shake it or wrap my mind around it.
I kind of keep poking holes in it and it's been something that I've been sitting with and it is this.
Can we ever actually have something if we are purely in the pursuit of it? So essentially, can I live where I am right now if I'm so focused on where I'm going to be next year or where I want to be next year? Can I feel regulated when some of my energy is going into figuring out how to get regulated? Can I feel at peace when peace itself is a thing that I'm chasing? Because here's the paradox.
And I think a lot of us, especially creatives who are wired to always be building, always be growing, always be reaching, are living inside of this paradox without even realizing it.
Some examples might be more confidence, more clarity on the direction you want to be heading, more peace, a regulated nervous system, a career that feels aligned, a version of yourself that finally feels like enough.
Now ask yourself, in the pursuit of those things, are you actually experiencing any of them? Or does the pursuit itself create a kind of low-grade anxiety that keeps you just far enough from the finish line to never quite arrive? This isn't an argument about growth or ambition.
It's a question about how we relate to the gap between where we are and where we want to be.
Because if that gap feels like a problem to be solved, if the present moment is just an obstacle standing between you and the future version of your life, you are going to spend a lot of time living in a place you never fully arrive at.
It's to stop making where you are right now wrong or making where you are right now the place you want to escape to get to the place that you're dying to go to.
So what does it look like to become obsessed with where you are right now? To love yourself and your life before the growth, before the achievement, before whatever it is that you are trying to become.
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