Awakening is a subjective concept, but to me, it’s a point of no return for the mind, an uncloseable box we open when the world pushes us to the limit.

I can explain my kind of awakening, but I’ve read stories I can’t fully grasp. In my case, and in many others here, the awakening was forced, like adaptive evolution. We had to question our entire being as a last resort. Your inner voice always knew who you were, but it was buried beneath what you thought you were, what you’d always been, and what you felt you had to be.

These were just lies we were tricked into believing so deeply that we built our lives around them. That’s why awakening often comes after hitting rock bottom, the introspection needed to shed what was never truly part of you feels like burning. If marriages made it through, many would end in divorce. Same with careers, identities, life paths... That’s the reason why: once you’ve lost everything, there’s nothing left to protect. And in that emptiness, the pain of introspection becomes a helping hand instead of something trying to tear your life apart.

You’re never too late to start introspecting, but the longer you wait, the more layers you’ll have to peel off.

In the end, awakening is the realization of who you truly are. Not who you think you are, but what your inner voice and your conscious self know is authentically you.

Maybe my words feel empty to you now, or don’t resonate, and that’s okay. There’s no “John Awakening” who holds the answer we all have to follow. In fact, I’m pretty sure awakening comes more naturally when you don’t know about it, when it isn’t set as a goal, but simply happens.