What’s my life Purpose?
It’s the question almost every human being carries – whether asked directly or buried underneath all the other important questions: Am I in the right career? Is this the right relationship? Is this the life I’m supposed to be living?
We all know when we’re out of alignment.
For some it shows up as dissatisfaction with work. For others, a restlessness that no external change seems to resolve. A life that looks right on paper but doesn’t quite feel right.
When Purpose is not lived, there’s a subtle sense of being slightly out of sync.
Sometimes something does click, and it can feel as if the question has finally been resolved. But after a while, it returns in a slightly different form.
The assumption, in most cases, is that the answer has not yet been found.
That there is still something missing, something that needs to be identified, clarified, or discovered…
… and that with enough effort, exploration, or the right choice, it will eventually reveal itself.
And so the search continues, becoming more refined, more intentional, more sophisticated.
However, the problem is rarely a lack of trying. It’s a misunderstanding of where to look – and why.
While each story is different, the struggle with purpose follows general underlying patterns.
After working with thousands of students at the Astro Butterfly School over the past decade, we have identified 3 core reasons why people struggle with purpose:
Reason #1: Looking for Purpose in the wrong places
When most people ask “what is my purpose?” – they associate it with something they do – with what they need to achieve, with career, vocation, or accomplishments.
Purpose gets translated into something external, as a path that can be chosen.
So the question becomes: Which path is right?
And from there, we start to look around: Who is successful? Who seems fulfilled? What paths appear to work? What pays best? Who has the best holidays on Instagram – and what do they do?
“They look like they know what they’re doing – I’ll try that.”
The vicious circle is that if someone is unsuccessful by worldly standards, that becomes another sign that they haven’t found their Purpose yet – and that they need to keep searching.
If they feel unfulfilled in their careers, or have a vague sense that there’s more ‘out there’ – then again, this becomes ‘proof’ that their true purpose is waiting for them… somewhere else.
And paradoxically, the same people who serve as role models – people who appear extremely successful by outer standards – often feel they’re not living their Purpose either. But that’s Reason #3.
In astrology, if someone wants to understand their purpose or direction, the instinct is usually to look at their Midheaven.
The Midheaven is the highest point in the chart, it’s associated with vocation, visibility, and the direction we are moving toward – so that’s where we have to look for purpose… right?
Wrong.
Purpose And Individuation – Becoming Who You Truly Are
Carl Jung understood this. He believed the deeper task of a human life is not achievement, not adaptation, not finding the right role – but becoming who you truly are.
He called it individuation – and he was clear that this process begins inside, not outside.
The natal chart doesn’t start with the Midheaven, which is precisely why we shouldn’t look for purpose in a place that is meant to reflect the culmination of a process, not its origin.
Looking for purpose there is like trying to read the last chapter of a story you haven’t yet lived.
Astrology can be very useful here – but only when it is used in the right way.
Jung himself worked with astrological charts in his practice – finding that astrology revealed dimensions of the psyche he couldn’t access through other means.
Astrology does something no other system quite manages: it connects different parts of our psyche in a coherent way, helping us understand where to look, and giving structure to what would otherwise remain fragments of meaning.
Confusing Purpose With Career And External Direction
The issue with purpose is not a lack of options or a lack of effort, but the externalization of a process that can only unfold inside.
When we look outside for the ‘right’ career, or the next opportunity, we hand over the steering wheel to the wrong driver.
At best, it leads to lives and careers that look right… but don’t feel right.
At worst, it becomes paralyzing, because one part of us tries to convince ourselves that this is the path to follow, while another part – more honest and more connected – knows that it isn’t.
And when these parts are in conflict, both the inside (how it feels) and the outside (how it looks) begin to suffer.
Confusing Purpose with career and external direction is one of 3 core patterns we’ve identified in people who struggle with purpose.
The other 2 go deeper: into the psychology of why we stay attached to the search itself, and why even people who have built successful lives can feel fundamentally misaligned with what they’ve created.
[WEBINAR] 3 Reasons Why People Struggle with Purpose
If this topic speaks to you, join Caro on Wednesday, April 8th, 2026, for a free live webinar where she’s exploring all three patterns in depth, with concrete examples:
“3 Reasons Why People Struggle with Purpose” – Wednesday, April 8th, 2026 at noon ET / 5pm GMT
In this 60-minute call, we’ll look at:
- why Purpose is searched for in the wrong places
- why some people stay in the search without ever landing
- why others build a life that works – but doesn’t feel like theirs
- .. and how astrology and archetypes can help us recognize these patterns and begin to work with them differently
This webinar is also the introduction to our upcoming live program, Purpose + Service – an 8-week journey through the complete framework. The details will be shared at the end of the call.
To join us on April 8th, please RSVP by 11:00 am ET:
Email reminders with the Zoom link will be sent to everyone who registers – one hour before and five minutes before the call.
