You were supposed to have it figured out by now — or at least that’s what the version of you from two years ago assumed. Maybe by this point you’d have the job title, the apartment, the relationship or some combination that signaled you were officially on track. Instead, it’s another summer, and you’re still trying to convince yourself that “figuring it out” isn’t a scam.
Maybe the dream job turned out to be corporate theater. Maybe the relationship you invested in fell apart with a single unread text. Maybe your five-year plan is now just “survive the week.” That low hum of disappointment? It’s familiar. But it’s not failure. It might just be your sign to reroute.
Summer makes space for that kind of reflection. Without the pressure of New Year’s declarations or fall’s back-to-business energy, you get a chance to breathe. The long evenings and slower pace give just enough quiet to ask questions like: Do I even want what I was chasing? Was I ever supposed to end up there in the first place?
“Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. Don’t waste your pain; use it to help others,” Warren says.
In other words, the tension you feel right now — the gap between expectation and reality — isn’t wasted. It’s formative. But only if you pause long enough to notice what it’s telling you.
It’s easy to panic when your plan doesn’t work.
“The more you pray, the less you’ll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry,” Warren says.
This isn’t just spiritual advice — it’s practical. When you stop grasping for control and start listening, you create room for clarity.
We tend to think of purpose as something linear: start here, end there, avoid detours. But real purpose is often revealed in the pivot.
“You cannot fulfill God’s purposes for your life while focusing on your own plans,” Warren says.
That stings, but it also frees you from clinging to a vision that may have expired.
So if your life looks nothing like you imagined, maybe you’re closer than you think.
“You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense,” Warren says.
That’s not just theology — it’s grounding. When your identity is rooted in who made you, not what you achieve, you stop measuring your worth by your progress.
You might feel behind. But behind what? A version of yourself who didn’t know what you know now? A cultural timeline that was never built for your actual life?
“We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it,” Warren says.
What you thought you’d have by now may have been based on pressure, not calling.
Summer is a good time to rethink that. To take small but meaningful steps in a new direction. Send the email. Book the flight. Ask the friend to hang out. Look for a new church. Pray with your eyes open. Listen harder. Forgive someone who never apologized. Start the thing you said you were too tired for.
“The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now,” Warren says.
Rerouting doesn’t always look impressive. Sometimes it looks like presence. Like faithfulness in the quiet. Like choosing hope over hustle.
Maybe you’re not where you thought you’d be — but you’re not lost. You’re being redirected.
“If you have felt hopeless, hold on! Wonderful changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on purpose,” Warren says.
So pause. Ask better questions. Take a next step. Not toward the life you planned, but toward the life that’s actually waiting for you.
