Why Life Feels Pointless (and How to Stay Grounded)

Welcome back to another episode of the Self Work Podcast. This is episode 21. And before we get into today's episode, I have been sick for the last three weeks. Turns out I had a blood infection. I've had a surgery over the past week. I've got a tube attached to my arm currently. And there's been a lot of false on my mind. There's been a lot of things I've been journaling about. So you can imagine the next few podcasts episodes are going to be very very deep. In today's episode, I want to talk about something very interesting, something that made me think about the current state of the world, the way things feel right now. Because recently, I don't know about you guys, but I can't help but shrug off this feeling that the world just feels pointless. And I know women to be spiritual people, women to remind ourselves that there is a purpose on this planet. But sometimes I feel like these conversations have to be had not from a place of hopelessness, but from a place of recalibration. Because the world feels empty, whether you like your own, right? I feel like people try to avoid the most obvious thing. And I think it's healthy to say out loud, no one really wants to talk about it anymore. We've adopted this mindset as people where we just avoid the elephant in the room. Everyone just acts like everything's fine, but it's not. The truth is, the world has shifted in terms of what actually matters. These days life just boils down to two things, power and money, clout and status. And that's it. Have you got yourself a respectable position or have you got yourself a respectable job? I should say, are you making money? Do you run a company? I don't know. It's just so superficial. And there's nothing wrong with success. I myself would class myself as a very ambitious person. But we've gone too far in that direction and it's taken the life and the joy out of living. We've reached this extreme where life has just become purely transactional. It's all about numbers and perception and somewhere along the way we lost meaning. I remember when life was slower. Let's go back to pre lockdown because I feel like everything since lockdown has just been a blur to me. When community still meant something, there was actual conversations, a sense of belonging, unplanned hangouts. And I'm not someone that's deeply nostalgic. I did make a video while by saying people that are deeply nostalgic or typically stuck in life. But sometimes you have to use it as a reference point. Nowadays, it feels like everyone's in a rush to get somewhere. Even when they have nowhere to be, it's like people can't sit still long enough to feel human anymore. And I've had many interactions like this, especially when I'm in London. You know, you bump in someone you haven't seen in a while. Yo, bro, how's it been? It's been a long time. Yeah, bro, it's been a while. And then as soon as the conversation starts to feel a bit stale, which is natural, by the way, they hit you with the, yeah, bro, I have to keep going, man, I've got things to do. Yeah, no worries, man. We'll link up soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah, fully knowing that you're not going to meet up. So first thing I want to talk about is what actually change because I've always been someone that's introspective. I like to be aware. I like to observe what's going on around me. I don't like being a zombie and I don't like living life. Possibly. And we always say this, but ever since ever since lockdown, something has shifted in humanity. What was once a temporary lockdown to clear this so called virus somehow turned into lifelong imprisonment, mentally, socially and emotionally. And people don't actually acknowledge that aside when you think about it, simple things like going out to eat with your friends, doing a bit of shopping, going for a drive or just hanging out. Those things used to be normal. Now they feel like they are relics of the past. Because nowadays visibility has replaced reality. Everything needs an audience. We've entered this digital age and this is ironic coming from a content creator where even people who aren't content creators actually still feel the need to create things online. And then on the opposite side, you've got people who claim that they're off the grid. You know, these people are like no face, no case. And they'll say, I don't want anyone knowing what I'm doing. I'm living a quiet life, but they're actually no better off. Most people, they don't even actually stay off the grid in a healthy way. I've got friends like this. They act like they've escaped the system, but they've got burn accounts. They're on social media with accounts. I don't have profile pictures. Everyone's still tapped in. Nobody's really disconnected. And the deeper problem is that nobody really has substance anymore. Maybe I'm just a deep soul. I love you guys listening to this may, may relate to me or may not relate. You may think, oh, you know, you're, you're taking life a bit too serious. But the actual reality is people don't live. They perform life. Everything has become content. You we document faster than we experience. You go out and notice how people can't go 10 minutes without pulling out their phone. As someone who creates content for living, well, to be fair, not living because don't really pay me that much. But as someone who creates content, I find it crazy that even normal people have turned their life into a feed. And it's not even just disrespectful. It's just robotic. The moment their silence, people reached for their phones like his oxygen. And I've been around many of these people and I always advise people, yo, if we meet up, let's try to not be on our phones because it kind of defeats the whole purpose. I've always been big on not filming everything. And honestly, it's been a blessing. Yes, there's a con. You can't really replay those memories visually. But the pros are, I remember everything. Every trip, every story, every laugh because I was actually there and I was actually present. I've traveled to so many countries over the last 12 months across the globe, right? Going as far as Australia. And I never recorded anything. Did I vlog anything? And the thing is with me because I've got such an old school mindset. The reason why I don't record is recording clashes with my present consciousness, which means if I pull out a camera and I'm vlogging, everything now comes through the lens of virality and what people were like. And when I travel, I actually tend to learn a lot. So when I'm in these moments where I'm talking to a local, I'm experiencing something, I would sacrifice it. I don't care. You know, I don't need to vlog everything. My effect, I'm not a vlogger anyway. So it's not my job. But I noticed in all of these situations, I'm present. But then when you look at the world right now, everything's become a performance. The way we talk, the way we post, the way we dress, even the way we relax, everything has to be aesthetic and look good. You know, it's like the world has productized existence. People don't go for walks nowadays because they need peace. They, they go on it because it looks peaceful and they want to record it. They want to post about it. People don't read to understand anymore. They read to find a quote and I guess I'll upload it on their story. I run it because I do it, but I do it because it has a purpose and it meant something to me. And I'm sharing it with people. All depends on intention end of the day. And I don't think people are doing this intentionally. This is just how society has trained us, I guess. But that mindset has quietly destroyed joy because the moment you start living for perception, you disconnect from presence. Every experience just turns into what a core performance review. And sometimes I don't like hanging around with content creators for this very reason because I don't feel present with them. And it's like everything in their head is like, Oh, does this make me look productive? Does this post make me look wise? Will this go viral? Does this achievement make me look successful? And you don't even realize you've started to manage your life like a brand. It's so stupid when you think about it. Where human beings acting like marketing teams for our very own existence. And that's what I mean when I say we've gone from living to performing, you don't have to be a content creator. Just ask yourself everything that you're currently doing in your life. Who are you doing it for? The clothes you buy, who you trying to impress, the car that you're looking to find as even though you don't have money. Who are you trying to impress? And we used to measure life by connection. You know, connection is the thing that used to keep us all going. But now it's all about this visibility. No, everyone has to see what I've got going on. Everyone has to see what clothes I'm wearing. Everyone has to see what car I'm driving. And that's why so many people have everything and still feel empty. I live in the UAE and whenever I talk to people, they're making an absurd amount of money. And they just don't really care about anything. It's like the joy has been taken out of their life. And someone even said something so profound to me. He was a 23 year old crypto millionaire, right? Just got lucky. He was very honest with it. And he said to me, life has become so anti climatic because I don't have anything to look forward to anymore. You know when you're young or even right now, you think that everything that you're chasing is going to bring you happiness. Like you know when people say money brings you happiness, I do believe to some extent money does resolve a lot of problems, which does increase your baseline happiness or your baseline contentment. But for a lot of people, it's like everything you're chasing right now, you think that is what is going to bring you happiness eternally. But the way I kind of change people's perspectives is there's something you own right now that you once upon a time really wanted. And how do you treat that thing? How do you view that thing? For me, even looking back, I remember driving and having a driving license when I was like 18, 19, or something, I thought would bring me so much happiness. That they are bought or caught and that they are got my driver's license. It just didn't care. Didn't cross my mind anymore. And that's how life is. The goal posts are always moving, right? Nothing that we have comes with intention. like we didn't actually choose them and say, you know what, this is something that I want to use for the greater good. And on top of that, you know, the most obvious things like the economy stress survival has made people a lot more fast paced. And everyone's anxious about what their life is going to look like in five years. Nobody can just be anymore. So actually talk to someone and they're stressing about something that's gonna happen one week later. And you see it in the smallest of ways. I've gone out with people, friends that I actually like and we didn't half an hour, they'll be like, bro, yeah, I'm sorry, man, I'm stressed. I've got something to do. I need to go and I get it. If there's a one off shore, happens to all of us. But most people can't just sit and be present. It's almost as if something has to always be occupying and chewing out minds. And some fortunate man, we've normalized so many bad habits, bringing your phone or being on your phone when someone's speaking, refusing to meet new people because socializing feels like work, wasting hours online instead of facing yourself. And when you're finally around people, you're mentally elsewhere, thinking about tomorrow next week, next year, everything but now. And the crazy thing is people only ever reconnect. And this is something I noticed. And I want you guys to sit with this. People only ever reconnect with the life after something painful happens. And for me, this was the illness that I had having a blood infection and being hospitalized. That's the time you become grounded and you ask yourself what the hell really matters in life. For some of you guys, it may be a death in your family. It may be a health diagnosis. You may be diagnosed with cancer. You know, God forbid for all of you guys. Something that strips away the noise. Maybe your mom passes or you get a call from the doctor and suddenly you remember what actually matters, connection, family, presence, contribution. That's the sad part. We only ever recalibrate when life forces us to. And that's really the heart of it, man. We've been conditioned to believe this is normal. The constant phone usage, the endless work, the invisible anxiety. But there's no way that life was meant to look like this. I couldn't care less the way you view it. Yeah, we got to make money to survive and write our tear. We weren't designed to live like this. We weren't designed to live through a screen, talking to strangers on apps, you know, commenting on people's posts, watching people's live stream for 24 hours because you don't have a life. Avoiding real people because they make you anxious. You weren't meant to measure every action by whether it was productive or aesthetic. And that's where we went wrong. Because when you're always performing, you can never really rest. And that's where this collective restlessness comes from. Everyone's tired. Nobody's at peace. Everyone's busy. Nobody's fulfilled. So why are you busy for? You know, people complain about all your ambition all the time, but they're not fulfilled. So why are you making yourself busy? You look around, you talk to people, you travel, you reconnect. And the most disheartening feeling is realising that everyone's got a ticking clock behind their eyes. They're there with you in physical, in their physical element, but they're already somewhere else. And that's why the world feels the way it does right now. That's what I've spoken to you guys about this for the last five, 10 minutes, because this is the state of affairs right now. We've forgotten how to be here whilst still standing. And to even talk about the next thing is, I want to talk about the pace of life, because everything nowadays feels fast forwarded. Everything nowadays feels super fast, which is why you always get DMs actually of young people telling me, "Yo, bro, I feel so behind. I'm 21. I'm 18. I'm 25." And I get it. It's because the pace of life has become so fast that nobody knows how to slow down anymore, not mentally, not emotionally, not spiritually. And the crazy part is, most people don't even realise that they're stuck in that speed trap. We've normalized motion for the sake of motion. If you're not busy, you feel behind. If you rest, you feel guilty. And if you stop completely, you panic, like you've lost some momentum. And I'll be honest with you, I've been sick recently, as I mentioned, and it forced me to see this clearly. I had to face myself a lot over the last three weeks. And, you know, when you're sick, and you can't actually work, for me personally, this was the first time I realised that I don't actually rest. It's funny because I always talk about rest, but my version of rest is just doing fewer tasks, not to no tasks. So when I was in hospital with a blood infection and a fever and I couldn't get out of bed, I call myself feeling very anxious. Honestly, I was so stressed out, not because of the illness, but because I wasn't doing anything. I felt like I was losing momentum, like the world was going to collapse around me, and that's when it hit me. Momentum isn't meaning. We're so addicted to the feeling of progress that we've forgotten what progress even means. Most of us mistake exhaustion for accomplishment. You feel like, oh, if I work 12 hours a day, I'm going to feel accomplished. Most people see burnout and call it ambition. We're constantly doing but rarely becoming. And I see it everywhere. People brag about being busy, but busy doing what? Some people say, I'm training hard. I'm in the gym every day, but you've looked the same for the last year. So what do you actually define as progress? Some people say, yeah, I'm working on launching this business, but I don't see anything. Because if you're just doing things for the sake of doing them with no intention, no reflection, no auditing, you're not growing, you're just moving in circles. And that's really the root of acceleration. It's not that people love being busy, is that silence scares us. Silence scares them. Stillness forces you to face what's inside you. And I feel like in a world where we are constantly bombarded with stimulus. Nobody wants to face themselves. Nobody wants to go there. So we feel every gap with work, scrolling and noise. And it's like your mind's on caffeine, even when your body's standing still. And that's why people can't hang out properly anymore. I've become a victim of this as well, where sometimes I catch myself. I'll link up with someone and outside of the, oh, we've been up to you and maybe like the first couple minutes of just talking about something trivial that's new in their life, I guess. I find myself kind of leaning towards, okay, let me check on my business or let me check on my work or let me check on some content ideas and things that I can potentially post about. And that's why it's unfortunate because if you sit across someone and you feel like, you know, this is unproductive, you know, if they're not talking about business or progress, you feel like you're wasting time so that you end up avoiding meeting people to start with. That's why the world feels so disconnected. People just can't sit anymore. And because I feel like I'm such a genuine person, one of the reasons why I advise against like networking events is because it is the pinnacle of emptiness. Now, people meet up with each other and believe it or not, I mean to solve many, I call myself a mysterious enigma, call myself a mysterious person. I like to stand there and just observe people. I can talk to talk, I'm very charismatic. I've got excellent communication skills, obviously due to God. But I noticed that people come to you and then they'll say, yeah, bro, like, what do you do? Like, will business do you run on how much money do you make a month and everything is purely surface level? Nobody even asks you your name sometimes. They just get straight into it. And that's why people just can't sit still anymore. Nobody feels connected. And that's why you find people always moving from one thing to another thing before the first thing even lands. That's why you see people jump from course to course, career to career, hobby to hobby. One goal, one emotion, one relationship, skip, skip, skip. It's like, is that people don't, people don't like doing one single thing. And a lot of times I get DMs and some was like, bro, do you think I should multitask with my goals and focus on multiple things I want? So do you think I should just focus on one thing? Onside, give them most times is you can't build meaning in your life if you reset every 15 seconds. And because everything moves so fast, we've now outsourced depth to intensity. As I said, and I keep mentioning in multiple episodes, people confuse chaos for passion. You think that fast emotions are strong emotions, which is why so many people are also in and out of relationships, in and out of jobs, in and out of money making ventures. You know, people are just chasing feeling. Nobody actually cares about growth. That's how relationships get caught up in loose. We chase meaning through people, not because we're ready to connect, but because we're desperate to feel something that slows us down. And that's why unfortunately clean-hearted people, especially the ones that aren't necessarily. I would say the ones that can't think for themselves. That's why they usually get banned. They're walking in a world full of restless souls, looking for anchors. And instead of holding on, these souls end up drowning them. And the thing I dislike is everyone's trying to find purpose in other people, which is why the dating culture is so big. You know, or hook-up culture, I should say. You see every weekend, people chasing that high from six months ago. I find the whole clubbing idea of going out every weekend so stupid. You like to link text someone new every time, just to feel something. And it's constant emotional overclocking. Your nervous system is so jacked up, you don't even realize it. That love has now turned into adrenaline. It's actually very rare to meet someone who's calm nowadays, not cold calm, not non-shalom calm. I mean, genuinely calm. Someone that doesn't sell anything, someone that doesn't need to prove something to anyone. It's very rare to meet those kinds of people because most people think stability is dull, because all we've ever known is intensity. And that's what acceleration does to the soul. You can't sit in silence without opening an app. You can't watch a sunset without reaching for your camera. You can't even have a deep conversation without checking the time. I've got a friend that does this all the time and it lowkey annoys me Well to be fair. He's not really my close friend anymore. His subscription has been downgraded Every time we link up He's the one actually initiates most times. We will meet up You know, we haven't hung out in a while But within 10 minutes of talking I noticed that he's checking his phone reading messages Glancing at the clock and then that line that annoys me the most which is Oh wait, what did he say bro? And that ruins the whole flow and then I'm sat there having to now pick up my phone because there's nothing better to do Because when you actually stare at you and you look at these people You're not realizing that it's so subconscious that most people don't even realize they're picking up their phone And that's why if you really look deeper than most people have tied their self-worth to speed If we're not achieving something we're worthless if we slow down we're lazy so we stay in motion not real motion I call it anxiety disguises productivity And that's why whenever you're sat across these people you can just see the scrolling through empty apps They check their email The hundredth time they check their social media page the hundredth time you're not looking for anything new It's just such a subconscious thing and that's why satisfaction has disappeared Even when you reach your goal you don't feel it how many of you guys actually celebrate your goals I didn't until recently And I realized the reason why I didn't is because I'm like oh doesn't mean anything doesn't mean much Because we've been convinced that you always have to keep chasing the next goal So you don't actually ever have time to reflect on process how far you've come And if you're thinking yes the goal is to keep moving forward Yes you're correct but at the same time if you don't reflect you won't strengthen your roots I noticed that whenever I become very stressed very anxious I start doubting myself imposter syndrome starts to creep in is because I haven't reflected on the things that I've achieved The moment I started reflecting on the things that I've achieved It doesn't make me complacent it actually grounds me because I'm like you know what I've done this before I can probably do the same thing again And when you look at most people most people nowadays are on edge They're not angry they're not sad they just unsettled And that's why the constant acceleration we have Keeps you one step away from peace almost always The way I see it is it's like the world has given everyone a gas pedal but no brakes and You only realize this until something drastic happens as I said Why is it that it takes for us to become sick lose someone maybe you lose everything For us to finally realize that speed doesn't equate life Movement isn't the same thing as meaning and maybe that's why so many young people Including all of you guys listening to this feel like you're running out of time Because when the world's always in fast forward mode you start believing that slowing down means you're falling behind But the truth is this pace of life It's erased the very thing that we all depend on most Community belonging genuine questions or genuine connections I should say because when everyone's racing and everyone is trying to reach a certain goal Nobody meets in the middle anymore And because of this it is very important to actually speak about the collapse of connection This is something that I reflect on quite a lot because as I've grown older I used to think and sometimes let's have a depressive moment collectively right I used to think when I was younger that as I grew older become more resourceful I'm going to be living in a world where everyone's connected and I'm able to share experiences with people But the reality is again since lockdown people don't really know how to show up for each other anymore And it's almost as if everyone's just going distant like everyone's just doing their own thing Mom does her own thing that does his own thing your siblings do their own thing Your cousins do their own thing your friends do their own thing There's no third space. There's no community that brings everyone together And it's almost as if now we're at a point in society where no matter what you achieve You're probably going to celebrate on your own and Bear in mind this isn't even something that bothers me personally And that's not that's not necessarily a good thing because I would cross myself as very high-paid independent And I'm good on my own I've solved most of my problems on my own obviously with the grace of God But it's mad when you really think about it because people don't show up for each other anymore Everyone's just halfway present I wouldn't say no one shows up for each other fully I'm not saying people abandon each other, but it is half-hearted though Half-hearted texting half-hearted listening half-hearted caring If someone makes a promise and says you know what let's actually do this It is half-hearted and friends nowadays feel like they exist in the background You know that moment where you and your boys say yeah, yeah, we will link up soon fully knowing you probably won't Because everyone's busy surviving their own chaos, I guess The cost of living mental health and just that general anxiety that comes with being alive today And we reach the stage in society where I can comfortably say connection feels like luxury It's something extra not essential You know you have to now schedule love you have to plan conversations You have to book people like appointments which I find so funny Even though I'm someone that contributes towards this but You know there was a time where friendships were spontaneous It doesn't mean that I can message you at 11 p.m. and say yo let's step out No, but I'm saying as an it kind of came up naturally like we would have this thing where If we want to do something we would go and do it granted that way both free Nowadays it is like you have to book someone into a calendar Yo can you do Thursday at six o'clock can you do Wednesday at eight And then the thing I hate that people say buried in my no everyone's like this You know this isn't black or white thinking not everyone's like this But the vast majority of people nowadays would say something like yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll let you know bro And I get it as someone who's busy I understand why people do it But it's wild that the digital world has made us Hyper connected but under related I would say We have access to everyone but intimacy with no one It's like we're all standing in the same room. This is how I imagine it right Imagine we're all standing in the same room, but nobody's making eye contact We see each other stories every day But we know we know less and less about what is actually going on in each other's lives That's one of the reasons why I don't follow people on Instagram I used to follow a few people on Instagram and I realized that after doing some introspection I caught myself in this loop where I would watch people's stories and feel like I was in touch But the more you watch the less you actually reach out believe it or not because you feel like you've already done your I guess you've done your part I checked up on that person what more is there to do? I've watched this story Someone could be posting daily smiling looking fine, but that doesn't mean they are okay You start mistaking visibility for closeness And it's dangerous because it makes you forget that real connection takes effort But none of us want to put in effort nowadays Even family let's talk about family as well Family doesn't feel like family sometimes everyone's under the same roof but emotionally on different planets You don't even eat together anymore and even if you do everyone's on their phone You talk about nobody's listening you talk about nobody really really cares about what it is that you're saying People will be like oh is it that's interesting nice And it's not because people don't care. I don't want to paint out I don't want you guys to start thinking that nobody cares It's only because our attention spans have been hijacked You ever noticed how hard it is to have a long conversation now like a real one I find that so funny how people come sit in silence people can't handle poses And so when you're having a long conversation with someone because I'm very observant I noticed that people typically drift in and out of conversation If so most people will use their phone, but even then you can see in the person's face that we are so used to multitasking Having background noise and scrolling that we've lost that ability to just sit still and be present And it's interesting because You can be having a deep conversation with someone And you can literally see the moment the conversation stops giving them a dopamine here They just pick up their phone straight away and that kills depth ultimately kills presence And the reason why this is so important is connection used to give life meaning Used to regulate us Talking to people spending time with people that's what used to keep our nervous system balanced Nowadays everyone's self regulating in isolation We've been told that you have to heal on your own work on your own Grow on your own, but that's not how humans were built You can't fully heal alone part of healing happens publicly by the way around people you love Talking, laughing, experiencing, sharing and I always say you can meditate all you want You can do all the inner work, but eventually you have to come back outside Eventually you're going to have to touch some grass And that's where people get it wrong Healing doesn't mean isolation. It means learning to exist peacefully in a noisy world And that's the skill most of us have lost That's why so many people feel lonely Not because they're alone, but because they're surrounded by people who are mentally elsewhere You can be in a room full of people You can be surrounded by a massive group of people and still feel like a ghost Everyone's distracted, everyone's performing and everyone's already somewhere else With becoming a generation, there's something I was journaling about recently We've become a generation that fears sincerity Why is it that caring for someone or showing that you care Has become such a foreign thing? It's like it's become cringe. That's what you can call it No, no, wow, that's why would I tell him that I would tell him that I care about him It makes no sense Everyone's built these emotional firewalls being genuine now feels like weakness. Nobody wants to be the one who cares more. So we all act detached. We all have become non shalom too cool to care. And that's how good people are, I guess, end up feeling like fools because some of us give love and attention in a culture that worships indifference. And that's the real tragedy. We all crave connection, but we are terrified of vulnerability. People want to be seen, but don't want to be known. People want that closeness, but don't want the risk that comes with it, which is so funny because I have this mindset of being all in online, you know, put your best foot forward, trust God and treat people to the best of your abilities. Because the moment you try to do this thing where you do one foot in one foot out, you're always going to get half-hearted results. And most times it isn't going to be in your favor. So what ends up happening is you settle for simulations of connections, stupid things like likes, DMs, what are you up to? How are you? Buy a DMs or messages that never really get answered. You know, have you ever messaged someone? I guess this is more sort of a guy thing. You message your friend, you ask him, "Yo, bro, it's been a while." You know, "I miss you, has there anything been?" Yeah, I'm good, bro, why about you? No depth. It's like people feel like explaining or expressing themselves is a moment of weakness. And slowly that became normal. Slowly, this is what we started to believe that this is what friendships look like. But it's not. The loss of connection isn't just emotional, it's spiritual. Because if you think about it, when you stop deeply connecting with others, you stop deeply connecting with yourself. You lose that mirror, you lose empathy. The reason why the world lacks empathy is because we don't connect with anyone anymore. And you start seeing people as transactional, as a means to an end rather than people to understand. And that's why the world feels so cold. It's not that humans changed overnight, it's that I guess we've built an environment that rewards detachment and punishes sincerity. And most people are actually too tired to fight it, which is so funny because we go to work, you scroll, you eat, you rest, you scroll again. You're not cold, you're just drained. So this whole idea that people don't care anymore, the world doesn't have empathy anymore, I just think it's just shrouded in being tired, being tapped into the matrix. But if there's one thing, I've learned is this, the antidote to loneliness isn't more people, it is presence because presence means you are taking in someone's whole being, their tone, their emotion, their humanity. Presence for me builds connection. It reminds me that life isn't about surviving and it's about sharing. As I said, as someone who's very hyper independent, this is something I am actively teaching myself. And this is the reason why life probably feels so pointless to most people because connection was always the foundation of meaning. Once you lose that, you lose yourself. And that's where I want to go next. How this lack of connection has left us spiritually starved. And why no matter what we chase, nothing will ever feel that void. It's important to acknowledge this because one thing I've been thinking about recently is how we've truly lost spiritual meaning in life. And I say that someone who is spiritual, someone who tries their best to live in line with faith. And as you know, I'm a Muslim, I follow the religion of Islam. But I think this applies across the board, whether you're Christian or you follow any other religion because everyone at some point in life reaches that stage where everything stable on paper, but something still fills off. And it's not depression, it's not sadness, it is spiritual starvation. When your soul isn't getting fed, meaning that you don't reflect, you have no gratitude in your life. And there's no awe in the creation that God has made. That subtle emptiness starts to creep in even when you're doing everything right. And I realize living in this world, specifically, someone who grew up in the West, that nothing feels sacred anymore, not time, not relationship, not even silence. And that's not because of religion, that's because of man. We've stripped the sacredness out of life. The internet has ruined our relationship with faith. It has turned spirituality into an ego battle. You see it everywhere, people post about their beliefs not to share them, but to show people how righteous they are. And it's mad because the more outwardly spiritual someone seems nowadays, the more it starts to feel like a performance and ego comes with this as well. We live in a day and age where it is less about serving God and more about being seen serving God. And you can feel it in their tone, in their content, in their energy. Religion for most people has just become a routine. Nobody sits and reflects anymore. Nobody asks themselves, why do I even believe this? People perform belief rather than living it. And when belief becomes performance, faith loses its meaning. And that's why what I call we've seen a rise in artificial meaning. When people lose spirituality, they replace it with whatever's trending. Some people worship money, some people worship fame, some people worship their favorite artists or influencers. And the funny thing is most of these people will sit here and tell you I don't believe in anything. Trust me, everyone believes in something. It may just not be a God. For a lot of people, their God is their desire, money, self-image. For others is a celebrity, a pet or even a relationship. Every human being has a desire and if you're not careful, you become a slave to it. And what's worse is nowadays spirituality and being someone that's faithful has become an aesthetic. You see people talking about all kinds of crazy things like energy, manifestation, crystals, and all of these buzzwords which have no substance. It's all surface level. And when spirituality became an aesthetic is when I noticed that we're starting to lean more towards a godless society. Right? Most spiritual people today, especially publicly are just building a more sophisticated ego. They use the language of the religion, but the foundation is pride. And that's pushed a lot of people away from what spirituality actually is. Even communities, and this is something that a lot of people don't want to discuss, that even communities that are women to guide people, they've changed. Like everywhere you look, someone's raising money and half the time, you don't even know where it's going. The whole thing has become transactional. And I'm not saying everyone's bad. Again, let's try to get away from black or white thinking. There's still amazing people and communities out there, but the ones that take the spotlight, the ones that are chasing influence, the ones that are fighting for validation. And it makes people use trust in the whole concept of faith. We are currently living in a very godless society. And that's why I always take my faith and my spirituality offline. People always ask me a message me, why is it that you don't preach about what you believe? Because why would I want to add to noise? I've noticed, especially if someone who's public, you know, a lot of people voice their opinions, the barrier of entry to share your opinion about something, which most of the time requires credibility is zero. There's loads of distractions out there already. And I noticed, it's pushing a lot more people away than people believe. People don't question things anymore. Think about like this. Are you a true believer if you don't question your belief? I want you as they just think about that. And that's why whenever I look at it from a holistic point of view and I step out of the box, I just feel like everyone is chasing something. Even the spiritual people you see publicly are asking for donations so they can fund their lifestyle or they're asking for likes and followers and what they're doing is rage baiting people. And that's why I always go back to the sources, man. I read, I learn, I reflect because there's so much distortion out there and you can't rely on everyone. Self education for me to some extent is powerful, but also know there's a limit. Sometimes you need a teacher, mentor or a guide, but you also need discernment because there's too many false profits out there. Rooms in sheep's clothing, people look like they're helping you, but they're leading you astray. Nowadays spirituality has intertwined with Western ideologies. I don't if you guys are noticing where red pill ideologies have seeped into spirituality and the stupid divine feminine energy has seeped into spirituality now where people are purely spewing things that are not religious or spiritual. So how can you live in a world like that? And the real reason the world feels so empty is because we've lost a mission that's bigger than ourselves. We don't live for something higher anymore. We don't serve. We just consume and when you stop serving something greater, you start serving your desires. You become animalistic. You start idolizing things that were never meant to be worshiped. Even in Islam as being a Muslim, we're taught to look out for one another to care for your neighbor to create a sense of community. But that's rare now. Everywhere you look, communities have become cash grabs and the ones that are truly helping people are quiet in the background. They're not popular. Nobody knows them. And that's the danger of today's world. What gets publicized is often what's most corrupt. We amplify the loudest voices, not the wisest ones. We platform people who sound good, not people who live good. And that's how we end up in a mess. The truth is we've drifted so far away from faith that most people don't even realise what they've lost. And the ones who do realise feel it deep in their chest. But all I'm saying is, without God, everything becomes noise. Without faith, success feels empty. Without purpose, life feels like a loop. And that's the thing. Spirituality was never about control. It's always about surrender. And I think that's what we're all missing. We've been taught to try and control every outcome to manifest everything, to calculate every step. But for me personally, for my experience, peace doesn't come from control. It comes from letting go. It comes from remembering who you are and who created you. And maybe that's why the world feels so weird right now because we've forgotten what they call reverence. You know, we've forgotten that we were never meant to be gods. and we were meant to serve God. And when you move away from that, you start worshipping everything else. And as I said, this is something that's very important to me because the more milestones you try to achieve, the more things you chase, the more you feed your desires, the more animalistic you become, the more empty your life is. You can have a billion dollars right now and feel empty. You can have nothing right now and let go and trust that God has the best outcome for you and feel content. All I'm saying is, go back to the source. Go back to silence. Go back to prayer because peace isn't missing. It's just waiting for you to slow down enough to find it again. So now after everything we've spoken about the speed of life, how fast-paced things have become, the collapse of connection amongst each other, and ultimately the loss of spirituality. It made me realize something. The hardest thing to do right now is to stay human, to stay grounded, or should I say to be yourself in a world that rewards unoriginality and numbness. Because life isn't gonna slow down and I want you guys to acknowledge this. Life is going to get harder. Life's going to get more confusing. We're going to be bombarded with way more stimulus. And this is something I want you to all internalize. Right, if you ever feel like you're missing out on something, if you ever feel like you're behind and need to catch up, you don't. You really don't. I'm tired of this narrative that's constantly being pushed because peace isn't found by speeding up. It's found by slowing down. And that's what I mean when I say peace is the new rebellion. And in a world, or should I say in the world we live in, emotional regulation is the new currency. Everyone's chasing something. Everyone's running somewhere, but very few people know how to stop to breathe and to just beat. To remember that existing just being alive is a blessing in of itself. How many of you guys have given thanks and gratitude to God for the fact that you're alive and you're breathing? We forget about these things. And I think that's what we've lost. You don't have to post it, you don't have to prove it, you don't have to perform it, you just have to live it. Because the moment you stop trying to prove that you're doing well is this day you start actually feeling well. For me, this is something I learned the hard way. When I was in hospital, as I mentioned with a blood infection, I couldn't move, I couldn't work. And that's when I realized how much I depend on movement to feel like I'm alive. The moment everything stopped, I started feeling anxious, I started questioning my whole purpose. And that's when I understood that sometimes stillness is powerful. It shows you what you've been running away from. We surround ourselves with so much noise because we're scared to face the silence. We fear what comes up when everything stops. Once you stop running, you realize that the world isn't as scary as your thoughts make it seem. And that's where peace begins for me. When you separate your own rhythm from the rhythm of the world, listen to that, right? When you separate your own rhythm from the rhythm of the world, when you stop trying to move at the same pace as everyone else, when you start walking your own path, even if it's slower, when you start valuing quiet moments, simple things like conversation, a walk, a prayer, reading or just being around good people. That's what it means to stay grounded. And I'm not saying you have to disconnect from everything. As I keep mentioning, let's get away from black or white thinking. All I'm saying is be selective. Most of your inputs, you don't have to delete social media, you don't have to cut people off. You don't have to stop striving to attain material gain. You don't have to stop striving to make a lot of money. But all I'm saying is you have to protect your peace the same way you protect your money. I tell my friends this all the time, if people protected their peace the same way they protected their money, they'd live much better lives because you wouldn't let someone randomly take money from you, right? So why do you let people or apps take pieces of your peace? Not everyone deserves access to your energy. Not every thought deserves your attention. Sometimes you just have to sit with yourself and remind yourself that life is more than screens and achievement because if you don't, you will wake up one day surrounded by everything you ever wanted and something will still be missing. The goal isn't ultimately to escape the world. It's to stay human inside it. And for me, stillness is one of the most powerful things I do and I continually practice. Sometimes I just sit in silence, staring the sky or a journal. And every time I do, it shows me parts of my life I've been running away from. That's how I grow and that's how I constantly keep realigning and that's how I keep maintaining my mental clarity. For everyone that always asks me, "Oh bro, where do you learn things from or how do you think so clearly or how do you speak so well?" It's because I do not bear stillness. And ultimately I acknowledge that the world won't slow down. Maybe it will get louder, but you can definitely slow down. You can stay grounded. You can build your own rhythm and protect it fiercely. And that's what I wanted to share with you in this episode. We live in a world that has gone mad. Everyone's obsessed with something, content, money, attention, escape. And I wanted to share this with you guys as a form of enlightenment that in a world of chaos go back to old traditions, stillness, boredom, conversation, community, faith. Because there's so many beautiful people out there waiting to be met. Just like I've met so many people over the last year that have really changed the way I view the world. You just have to be present enough to notice them. Because the moment you outsource your peace and you're thinking to a device is the moment you lose. So that's what I wanted to talk about in this episode. I hope you guys have benefited from it. And as always, if you have something to share, feel free to DM me. And if this episode has resonated with you, share it on your story, tag me, and I'll see you guys in the next episode.